Kingdom Hearts: Shadowed Light
by Marjorie Franklin
Summary: KH 1.5 AU from Riku & OC POV. The story of Riku & the forgotten girl from the islands. He is drawn to her, but will he corrupt her as he has corrupted himself? A tale of the decent & transformation of the dark keyblade master & the girl shackled to him by an invisible connection.
1. The Isles of Destiny

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. They belong to their original creators. In other words I do not own anything.

**Kingdom Hearts: Shadowed Light**

**Chapter 1 **

**The Isles of Destiny **

_Riku is surrounded by nothingness. He cannot see anything before him, because there is nothing for him to see. All that lies before him is just endless swirls, layers, and cascades of gray. It is suffocating, but he somehow manages to breathe. He wants out, he wants to get away but there is nowhere for him to go. The gray envelops him and he can do nothing inside its feeble embrace. He can only float along as if laying on a waters' murky surface._

_Is he awake? Is he asleep? Is it a dream? A nightmare? How do you describe nothingness?_

_Riku can hear faint whispers. The murmurs are soft. They tickle his ears and kiss at his eardrums, but he cannot make sense of them. The illegible muttering grows louder and becomes a voice. The voice is not familiar to him and he cannot decipher what it is saying to him._

_Riku tries to lean toward the voice even though he has no clue where it is coming from. The whispers volume increases and he leans closer. The voice is much too delicate to be male. It is gentle but it starts to sound…scared? Or is it worried? Is she worried?_

_"Riku, please," the kind voice whispers. _

_Riku knows the voice is continuing to speak, but he can no longer hear it. He curses to himself and again tries to float in the direction of the voice._

_"Why?" another voice calls. _

**_Is there more than one? _**

_That voice definitely belongs to someone else, but the tone is the same. The new voice is also too tender to be coming from a man's throat. However, this voice sounds just as concerned as the first voice he heard. Maybe even hurt or betrayed._

_"Your heart…" a deeper voice remarks._

_ That one is definitely male._

**_What is wrong with my heart?  
_**

**_Who are they and why are they so upset? Are they upset with me? Did I do something? I don't remember doing anything._**

_The voices continue to call to him. They ask questions he doesn't know answers to. They accuse him of things he does not recall doing. They have a dialogue with him even though he never speaks or offers to answer them. _

_**What is wrong with them? What has them so upset and why are they talking to me? What has hurt them? Especially the first…she sounds…broken**. _

_"RIKU!" she screamed at him._

_._

_._

_._

Riku jolted awake and his covers leapt off of his body from the force. He released an exasperated sigh and ran his fingers through his long, silver hair.

_It was just another dream, _he assured himself.

He lifted his hands up to rub his pale blue eyes before gripping the bridge of his nose and groaning. The dreams were sporadic at first, but now they were becoming a nightly annoyance.

_You are home Riku. You are on the islands, _he reassured himself as the settings around him become more real and the illusionary world faded awasy.

Ice blue eyes examined the room around him. His room was that of any normal boy's. The room had a bed with a blue striped bedspread, a desk, a window, and his wooden toy sword in the small corner. Riku did not pay attention to the details because they bore him. They did not matter. His eyes have examined this room countless times and there was nothing special about it to him, not anymore.

_That's right. __You are home in your prison_. He lets out another displeased sigh.

Riku did not mind his home being a prison as long as he was able to escape from it.

Riku glanced at his window to take a guess at what time of day it was. The sun was barely up. Good. He didn't oversleep. Riku hated oversleeping. He hated wasting any part of his day. If he ever did oversleep Sora would never let him hear the end of it. The young man cringed at the thought. Even if Riku did oversleep he would still be up before Sora, but he would rather not risk it.

The longer Riku examined the morning light that shone outside the more he realized it was still very early. It could not be long after sunrise. Normally, he would roll over and go back to sleep until a more decent hour, but he had things to do.

Riku got up and prepared for another day of working on the raft. He threw on his usual garb his gloves, his back and yellow shirt, his dark blue pants, and his regular shoes. The same old clothes in the same old place.

Sora and Kairi would not be up and about yet, but even if they were he would do the majority of the raft work anyway. He did not mind though. As long as it got done and he got off of the islands he did not care about the process leading up to the end result. Riku would do it all himself if he had to. And since he was awake he might as well work on the raft.

Sleeping was no longer enjoyable anyway. If he was sleeping he was dreaming. If he was dreaming he was back in the nothingness and that was something Riku would rather avoid. Besides, the faster the raft was finished the faster they could leave. And when he left he could finally be free.

.

.

.

Cassandra sat on the edge of the pool with the waterfall next to the seaside shack. The young girl watched the water ripple out and morph her doppelgänger that dreamily looked up at her. She was supposed to be helping Kairi find shells or pretty stones to make her "lucky charm", but somewhere along the way her mind began to wander as she stared at the blue, misty abyss before her. What Kairi needed a lucky charm for anyway was beyond her and she did not want to ask or pry. If Kairi had wanted her to know she would tell her.

The golden-haired girl was released from the hypnotic hold the water had on her and glanced over at Kairi. Kairi's tongue darted out of the left side of her mouth as she concentrated on adding the new piece to her charm. The charm was cute so far she had to admit. They had only found three of the five shells needed to complete it. Finding three identical shells had been a trying task, but they had managed. Which was why they are at the waterfall looking for shells or stones. Cassandra often found many cute stones, but they did not match Kairi's vision. So far Kairi had only accepted shells and identical ones at that.

Cassandra yawned and stretched as she turned her body to face the ocean behind her.

Everyone was in his or her normal places. Selphie was on her dock, Wakka in front of the moss covered rock wall in front of the big tree, and Tidus was hitting things on the other side of the enormous tree. She could not help but chuckle softly as she noticed Sora taking a nap on the beach like a beached whale. However, this beached whale seemed to be having mini seizures. Every few seconds one of Sora's limbs twitched or his entire body would jerked.

Cassandra did not point out to Kairi that Sora had decided to take a nap on the beach near the water. She knew their tranquil atmosphere would be ruined once Kairi noticed Sora. More importantly when she noticed that Sora was not doing what he was supposed to be doing. Again, the blonde girl did not know exactly what that was but she did know the trio was up to something.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi had been scrambling around the islands for about a week. Normally this would not strike anyone that knew them as odd, but they appeared to be doing something productive. Sora and Kairi _never_ did anything productive!

Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie had noticed the changes as well. Selphie was determined to figure it out on her own. However, "on her own" apparently also included her asking Cassandra what was going on at least twice a day. Although Cassandra was closer to the trio than most, she was still not part of the trinity and she knew that. That did not mean she did not know them though. Cassandra had caught subtle hints and she was thinking that the threesome was looking for a way off the island.

When she was with them she noticed how the conversations would always turn. They involved other worlds. Sora had repeatedly asked Cassandra about her life before she came to the Destiny Islands. She did have much to tell him, but apparently it was enough for Sora. No matter how many times she told him what she remembered he looked fascinated and absolutely absorbed in what she was telling him. As long as Sora was happy with her answers she supposed it was enough.

The young girl could not complain though. She could remember more than Kairi. When Cassandra could pacify Sora with bits and pieces from her fragmented memory, Kairi could offer him nothing of her other world. That made Sora question Kairi more often. His curiosity could not be sated. The way Cassandra saw it was that Sora was curious because he was planning on seeing other worlds or was thinking about them more often.

Kairi also seemed quieter than normal. Her cheerful disposition seemed a bit forced at times, especially with Riku around. Riku had become another issue entirely. Cassandra sighed dejectedly. Riku did nothing but stare out at sea when he was not running around doing the tasks delegated. Sometimes even yelling would not get his attention. Which brought Cassandra back to her original thought. The triad was delegating tasks. Why would they need to delegate tasks?

"That lazy bum." Kairi stated firmly as she finally noticed Sora snoozing on the golden white sand.

Cassandra chuckled "He has been down there a while. It looks like he is dreaming," she said calmly as she looked back down at he rippling water before tracing one of her fingers over the cool, shimmering surface.

Kairi stood up and stomped over to the boy who was clearly not doing his job.

"Not only is he asleep, but he is dreaming!" Kairi called back to her as she made the trip down the wooden walkway to the beach.

The older of the two girls decided to get up as well and began brushing the sand off of her red and black plaid mini skirt. The long, silver chain attached to her skirt jingled and clinked as it made contact with the unusual rings on her fingers and the bracelets that dangled from her wrists. Cassandra leaned over the water's edge one last time to examine herself before leaving the area. She ran her fingers through her thick, golden shoulder length tresses and straightened her black tank top with a sigh.

Cassandra watched Sora and Kairi for a moment. Those two are special. She could never quite put her finger on what it was that was so special about them and their relationship. All she knew was that she admired it and maybe even envied it. A smile spread across her face as Kairi hit the back of Sora's head. The blonde girl could hear pieces of their conversation.

"…I don't remember," was all she could heard Kairi say and that was all she needed to hear.

_He is asking about her homeland again_.

Cassandra yawned again and proceeded to softly groan.

She had to go check on her younger brother. Cassandra doubted her older sister would do the job. Sophie was much too self-absorbed and teenage like to do it and Cassandra would rather not get in trouble for not going either. She could hear her mother now.

_'Just because Sophie does not go does not mean that you shouldn't!'_ she would say.

Lucas was usually on one of islands closer to the mainland. Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Cassandra were usually the only ones that come to this particular island. Everyone else usually went to the more frequented islands that were closer to the mainland, especially the children. The tiny ferries that travel back and forth to the closer islands seemed much more child friendly. Parents did not worry as much since all they had to do was get on a small ferry to come and go. Cassandra and the others had to take their own boats to get to this particular island. Sophie was usually with the more mature teenagers socializing on the mainland. Cassandra rolled her blue-green eyes at the thought of her sister fluttering around boys and giggling with other girls. That was definitely not her style. Sophie may be her sister, but they were as different as night and day.

Cassandra began the trek down the sloppy wooden slopes to the dock until she realized she left her beach bag on the other side of the island by the zip line. She sighed heavily and began a brisk walk to the other side of the island. The blonde made it halfway underneath the bridge before colliding with something hard.

"Oof," they both exclaimed.

Blue green emerald eyes barreled into frosty blue ones.

"Sorry Riku," she quickly stated upon realizing whom she had crashed into.

She did not have to inspect anything else. Those eyes were all she needed to confirm the identity of the person before her.

_No one has eyes like his.._.

Riku was holding a large log under his right arm with an annoyed look on his stoic face. His expression softened after he looked at her for a moment.

"It ok," he said calmly.

Riku's voice was much softer than she was expecting it to be. Upon realizing he was going to be reasonable she became more confident and attempted to straighten her posture. With his free hand he caught Cassandra behind her elbow and steadied her.

"You good?" he asked.

"Mm hmm," she mumbled as she quickly pulled a lock of gold behind her ear and smiled up at him.

Riku half smiled down at her, but his light blue eyes began to focus on something behind her. The young girl did not have to look behind her to know what had acquired Riku's attention. Cassandra could practically see his eyes turning green as the resentment inside him swelled. She glaced over her shoulder; Sora and Kairi are clearly having a moment. To Cassandra it seemed innocent enough, but she knew it was different through his eyes.

Both of the boys always got fuzzy headed or distracted around the special, red-headed girl. Sora did not even have to be around her, Sora could just be thinking about her and his thought process got messy. Tidus and Wakka had a field day anytime it happened. They teased the boy about being distracted by the tiny girl or for thinking of her. Wakka and Tidus never teased Riku about her though, either because they did not notice Riku's affections as easily or because they knew better than to tease the silver-haired young man. Maybe a bit of both.

Cassandra wanted to tell him not to ruin the moment, but she knew he would not listen to her so she would not waste her breath. Everyone knew there was a bit of competition for Kairi's attention and affections. What everyone did not know was that Riku was losing. Cassandra was not even sure Riku knew. He probably did. Riku was not ignorant. He was actually far from it. Riku most likely knew he had lost the war, but Riku would definitely try to win every battle could even if the war was lost.

Kairi loved Riku just not the way he loved her. Or at least the way he thought he loved her. Cassandra had a theory. Riku only thought he loved her. He was more in love with the idea of her. Riku was actually in love with something that did not exist. If he were to obtain Kairi's affections he would not know what to do with them. He would never know her, not truly. Her heart would be lost to him even if he were to hold it in his hands.

The younger boy however, would be able to. Sora and Kairi were two of a kind. The spikey haired brunette could care and relate to Kairi in a way Riku could never comprehend or accomplish. Cassandra hoped Riku could one day come to accept this fact.

Riku realized he was being rude by flat-out ignoring the girl in front of him, but he just didn't care. He watched the scene for a moment then looked back at the blonde girl. Cassandra came to the islands shortly after Kairi arrived. Like Kairi, almost everyone instantly adored the feisty, blonde girl. The main difference was that Cassandra had a bit more trouble fitting in at the beginning. She had a harder time making friends. Everyone admired her and liked her but she was just a bit unsure of herself at first.

Cassandra lost her father shortly before coming on the Destiny Islands. Riku always assumed that was why she was so distant at first.

He watched her look at Sora and Kairi with a gentle, kind smile on her delicate face that made his stomach lurch. Stomaching people looking at Sora and Kairi that way was becoming harder and harder to accomplish...

Her straight golden-yellow hair danced just above her porcelain colored shoulders. For a girl who had lived on islands for years her skin was shockingly fair. She did tan, but her skin remained brilliantly translucent and unmarred by the elements. She was not pale just fair. Cassandra was almost like a modern, living china doll.

The young girl was a bit younger than Riku but only by a few months. They were both fifteen years of age.

If Selphie was the bossy one within their group of friends Cassandra was the voice of reason. She was spunky and fiery, but she would always look out for others. Well most of the time. Sometimes she was getting into just as much trouble as the rest of them. Otherwise she was taking care of them. Especially Kairi.

The blonde girl was no Kairi, but Riku did care for her. They use to be closer, but things had changed... Puberty maybe? Cassandra and Kairi had become closer and the trinity had gained some unbreakable bonds. Again, Cassandra was definitely no Kairi and she was not part of the triad, but Riku could not imagine life without her around. Who would yell at him if she were gone?

Riku focused his chilly gaze back to his friends.

"Riku are you listening to me?" he barely heard her ask.

"Sure," he spoke flatly as he continued to watch Kairi giggling and smiling at Sora.

_She should be smiling at me._

"I said I am going to check on Lucas. If anyone asks where I went will you tell them I went to make sure Luke is ok?" she said louder as she crossed her arms and began tapping her foot in displeasure.

The silver-haired boy glanced back at her again. This time he allowed himself to make eye contact with her.

"Yes. You're checking on Lucas. Got it. Go," he said with irritation to match the annoyance he saw in her body language.

Cassandra rolled her emerald eyes as her arms fell to her sides, but she quickly recovered and smiled radiantly at him.

"See? Was that so hard?" she said as she patted his shoulder.

Riku repressed the urge to cringe away from the contact.

_Her skin is always too warm._

"Stay out of trouble while I'm gone!" she scolded as she waved her hand behind her head and walked towards the other side of the island.

Riku glanced over his shoulder back at her.

"Whatever," he grumbled under his breath.

Riku began to make his way over to his friends. He could hear them talking about seeing other worlds.

"So what are we waiting for?" the petite red-head said to Sora.

"Hey. Aren't you guys forgetting about me?" he said trying to sound as friendly as possible.

Riku desperately tried to contain the hurt and rage in his voice. Sadly he couldn't get a hold of himself until he asked the question.

"So, I see I'm the only one working on the raft," he stated and tried to flash his best coy, charming smile to lighten the mood.

Riku purposely threw the log loosely at Sora as he made his way to Kairi. Riku did not look, but he knew Sora did not catch the log properly.

_Good,_ he hissed inwardly

"And you're just as lazy as he is," he said to Kairi, getting a little closer to her than necessary.

Kairi tittered.

"So you noticed. Ok! We will finish it together! I'll race you!" she responded as Riku crashed onto the ground.

He was more tired than he originally thought. All the work on the raft and the lack of sleep may be catching up to him.

"What? Are you kidding?" Riku complained

"Ready? Go!" she exclaimed as she held her hands on each side of her mouth to amplify the sound knowing exactly how they would respond.

Kairi knew the two rivals couldn't pass up an opportunity to best one another in competition.

Sora and Riku looked at each other for a split second and just like that Riku was on his feet again. He was tired, but he would never be _that_ tired.

.

.

.

Cassandra started to not go back to the island again. Checking up on Lucas proved to be more challenging than originally anticipated. She shouldn't be surprised. Everything with her spirited, curly-haired, little brother was challenging. First, he would complain about her checking on him. Then, he would decide that maybe she was cool and that his friends seemed to like her. Next, he would try to humiliate her in front of said friends. Finally, he would get tired or hungry and would beg her to take him home. And because Cassandra was _such_ a good sister she complied. He would owe her later.

Then she ended up going to see Gigi for a few minutes, which quickly turned into a few hours. Each time Cassandra went to see her grandmother she ended up attempting to practice white magic and staying much longer than she meant to.

Cassandra came from a long line of white mages. However, Cassandra could not seem to get the hang of it. She was not a white mage and she knew that.

_Not yet anyway,_ she reassured herself.

Gigi encouraged her to be positive. So she mainly watched Gigi and listened to her stories and tips on how to correctly use magic. The proper use of power and all that junk.

Cassandra did not mind that she could not use magic. She was just happy to listen to Gigi. She tried she really did, but somehow she could not awaken her "sleeping abilities," as Gigi called it.

After grabbing a cookie from the kitchen's glass cookie jar Cassandra attempted to get out of the house and back to the islands before Sora, Riku, and Kairi left.

"Where are you going?" Cassandra's mother, Celia, called to her just as soon as Cassandra placed her hand on the doorknob.

Cassandra's shoulders went above her ears and she winced at the sound of her mother's voice.

"Back to the islands?" Cassandra remarked in an uncertain tone as she slowly turned to face her mother with one of her eyes still closed tightly from her wince.

"Its dusk Cassandra. You are usually coming in at this time." Celia pointed out from the stairway by the front door.

Cassandra knew it was true. Normally she would not question that, but she was pretty sure she could catch Sora, Riku, and Kairi up to something if she went back. Their boats were not in the dock yet which meant that they were still on the island.

"Sophie is still out." The young girl argued.

It was a lame jab, but she didn't have too many options. She usually did not play the sibling card. That was more of her sister's style, but Cassandra was desperate to get out and get back to the island.

"Your sister is seventeen," her mother responded as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Remind me, how old are you again Cass?" she added calmly.

She did not have to raise her voice. She knew she was making valid points.

"I'm fifteen, but I will be right back I promise!" Cassandra said as she opened the door as quickly as possible before making a dash down her front steps.

"Cassandra!" she heard her mother call after her as she sprinted to the dock.

She would have to hurry. They would leave soon. Once the sky turned orange they were usually on Riku's little island with the paopu fruit tree.

.

.

.

Cassandra's feet were slipping against the sand. She was unable to catch her footing so she kept slipping and scraping her knees on the white sand.

"What's the hurry ya?" Wakka asked softly as he helped Cassandra to her feet.

"I'm trying to catch the threesome in the act!" she said sporadically in between breaths.

Wakka raised an eyebrow and smirked as Cassandra instantly realized what she had just said. She felt her face turn red.

"That is not what I meant," she whispered as she covered her cherry colored face with both of her hands.

Maybe if she covered her face she would disappear and stop feeling embarrassed.

Wakka just laughed, "They haven't left yet. If you hurry you can still catch them."

"Thank you!" she called, the blush vanishing from her face as she ran for the small island.

The blonde female scurried up the turning stairs of the seaside shack. The flimsy woodwork of the small manmade shack creaked and groaned under her weight until she reached the top door. Before she busted through the rickety door she composed herself so it would seem like was not trying to catch them up to something. She fixed her hair, brushed the sand off her legs, and straightened her clothes and opened the door tenderly before she peered around the door's edge casually.

Wakka was right they had not left yet. Cassandra usually wasn't nosey, but this time she had to make an exception. She had a bad feeling about this. The golden-haired girl was afraid Riku might be getting Sora and Kairi in trouble. She was mainly worried about Kairi. Kairi was her best friend and she had always taken care of her. Looking after Sora and Kairi was something she had always done.

The blonde girl even looked out for Riku even if he did not think so. Taking care of Riku was different from caring for Sora and Kairi. Recently, looking out for Riku involved yelling at him.

If they wanted to go to other worlds, it would be dangerous. Cassandra's hand instinctively covered her stomach. She shuttered and shook her head, trying to push away any dormant memories that threatened to invade her conscious.

The worlds were separate. Even if they did have a way to get out that was only half the battle. A vessel was one thing, but actually ending up at another world was another. They could die trying.

Cassandra began to approach the trio. The atmosphere was very heavy suggesting that the conversation was serious.

"Your welcome," Kairi said, her voice sounding sadder than usual.

Sora was laid back casually against the curved trunk of the tree and Kairi sat upright next to his feet with Riku standing at the base of the tree leaning on the base for support with his arms crossed firmly over his chest.

Kairi must have sensed her presence because Kairi turned to look over her dainty shoulder. Cassandra waved shyly instantly regretting imposing.

_You should not have come up here,_ she scolded herself.

"Sorry," she mouthed so the preoccupied boys would not hear her.

"No its ok," Kairi insisted with a bright smile and shimmering eyes as she turned to face the bridge Cassandra was standing on and lowered herself from the bizarre tree trunk.

Sora and Riku turned and Cassandra automatically stiffened.

_No going back now. _

"What all did you hear?" Riku asked coldly.

He did not want Cassandra squealing to the adults. If she tells, he would not be getting off the island any time soon. His parents would make sure of that. No one was going to stop him. Not his parents and definitely not _her. _

"Hi Riku," Cassandra responded "nice to see you too," she snapped as she began fidgeting with her fingers, her turquoise eyes making their way to the ground to hide her embarrassment and irritation.

"Cassy wouldn't say anything even if she did hear something," Kairi assured Riku.

Cassandra could not help but notice that Kairi had picked up on the same signals that she had. Riku had changed. The older girl knew Kairi could sense the bubbling darkness that boiled within Riku's heart and it clearly had Kairi uncomfortable with him.

"Don't worry I didn't hear anything," the blonde girl insisted, "even if I did, don't act so disappointed. I just wanted to see what you were doing and if Kairi wanted to come back with me."

"Maybe you should mind your own business," Riku growled as he approached the blonde girl who was waiting at the foot of the bridge that attached the island to the mainland.

Riku was practically on top of her, but Cassandra refused to budge. He was trying to intimidate her to keep her from telling on them. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything to tell. Cassandra straightened her posture and met his icy blue gaze, glaring back at him with the same intensity he was giving her. She would not let him intimidate her.

A smirk began to form on his face.

"You know Cassy I have always admired your spirit," he genuinely laughed.

Cassandra could not help herself she broke and smiled at him. Riku did not smile or laugh much, but when he did Cassandra found t extremely contagious.

"Riku you know I am just worried" she mentioned trying to reassure him.

"You shouldn't be," he retorted as he tore his baby blue eyes from her.

"Are you sure?" she added intensely before taking a step toward him.

"Riku if you are doing anything you shouldn't..." she challenged again.

"I told you not to worry about it," he interrupted blandly as he walked over to the paopu tree.

Cassandra hated when he did that. He would always walk away when he wanted a conversation to end. She scoffed to herself and watched as Riku began to pluck a paopu fruit from his favorite sitting spot.

"We can head back whenever you want Cassandra," Kairi mentioned as she started making her way across the bridge.

The younger ruby haired girl was clearly tired of the conversation. Kairi actually looked tired in general. Cassandra nodded and started to follow her across the bridge. The blonde was done arguing with the silver-haired wonder anyway.

The older girl could hear Riku's uproarious laughter as she and Kairi made their way to the dock. She groaned as she glanced back at the boys. Cassandra was pretty sure he had done something inappropriate to Sora. The laughter was much too loud and smug to be genuine. If Cassandra knew anything about Riku he had done something uncalled for. She watched as Sora tossed a paopu fruit over the side of the bridge and chased after his opponent.

He had made some Kairi reference with the paopu fruit she just knew it. Riku took jabs any way the could. If Cassandra was not so tired she would have fussed at him about being impolite to Sora, but she just did not have the strength.

The jokes were becoming a bit too personal. Especially since they were usually about competing or about liking Kairi but not being man enough to do much about it. The rivalry was becoming more unhealthy as they aged. It was growing more intense. Sometimes you could not even tell if the boys were friends anymore. Tidus even picked up on that.

"What did you do?" Cassandra questioned as Riku approached her.

"What did I tell you about worrying?" he asked as he wrapped a cool arm around her slender neck and walked her to the dock before she could ask Sora what Riku did to him.

The skin of his arm rubbed and caressed the porcelain skin of her shoulders and neck. It was much more comforting than she cared to admit even though she knew he was not touching her out of affection. He was only touching her so he could escort her to the dock quicker.

Cassandra tried to peek over Riku's muscular arm to look back at Sora, but Riku kept guiding her forward much too forcefully. Once they reached her boat he released her. Riku offered her his hand and for a moment Cassandra considered not taking it, but she eventually accepted it. His hand was gloved and only exposed the bottom part of his palm. Cassandra could feel the warmth of his skin at the base of his palm as it made contact with her smaller hand. She could not help but find this much more soothing than the thick, leather glove that adorned his upper hand and fingers. Her hand melded with his as she crawled down into her tiny rowboat. As soon as she was stable within the boat the physical contact was instantly severed. She cursed herself for missing his cool touch.

Then Riku began to help Kairi. Cassandra knew she was only helped because he needed her out-of-the-way in order to help Kairi. She also couldn't help but notice the way he was much more gentle with the azure eyed girl and how Riku prolonged their physical contact.

The blonde young woman casually crossed her arms and looked away from the scene. It made her uncomfortable to watch him fall all over himself for the smaller girl.

"Take care of her," Riku commanded as he too crossed his arms over his toned chest.

For a fifteen-year-old he was surprisingly muscular.

"Yeah whatever," the older girl complied.

Like she needed Riku to tell her to take care of her best friend. Riku really shouldn't worry about Kairi. There would always be someone to take care of Kairi.

_Who will take care of you Cassandra?_ A faint voice deep down inside her asked.

.

.

.

_I can't believe you lost that race, _Riku inwardly scolded himself.

_Now we have to call our raft Excalibur. Better to have the raft named Excalibur than let him share a paopu with Kairi. You were stupid to make that bet. You are also a bastard for acting like it was never a bet to begin with. _

Riku sighed, he couldn't let him share a paopu with Kairi. Riku doesn't necessarily believe in destiny or fate despite being raised to believe such things, but he still wouldn't risk it. The silver-haired boy knew of legends and stories about how strong destiny could be so maybe a part of him does believe in those things, but he would never admit it.

The young man stared out at the lining of the ocean where the sky and water meet. Trying to will himself to the horizon. To get off the land mass underneath his feet. To break that barrier that he knew was there. The barrier that disconnected him from freedom, the barrier that kept him from going to other worlds.

How many times had he done this? How many times had he looked out at that blackened horizon and tried to wish himself beyond it?

_Countless times_.

Sometimes he thought he was close. He could almost feel himself drifting out. His heart and soul going where his body physically could not. He had disconnected so much at times that he could not hear people calling out to him. Sometimes even voices could not reach him as he triex to will himself to be anywhere but this small world.

Once he was pretty sure Selphie yelled at him for hours. She screamed at him but could not obtain his attention. The sad thing was he didn't even remember. He just knew what she told him. Riku almost did not believe it until he realized how focused he got and how hard he concentrated on finding a way out of here.

_You will be out of here soon. Just one more day, the raft will be done and we will finally make an attempt to get off the islands. If we have to we will think of something else. _He repeated to himself.

All at once, Riku realized he had not seen Cassandra today. He quickly looked around him to make sure he hadn't missed her while he zoned out.

_No she just isn't here. Maybe she is on the other side. _

Riku wanted to make a mental inventory of where she was, especially since he was pretty sure she was onto their plans. Another part of him just wanted to see if she was here today. Sometimes she went to see her grandmother and tried to use or learn white magic.

_Whatever that means. _

The young man use to get jealous of Cassandra spending more time with Gigi than with him. Cassandra was always a good time when he was bored. If he ever got annoyed with Sora or the others he could always count on her to calm him down. She would listen or she would talk to him and take his mind off everything else for a second. Riku was shocked at how easily he could talk to her. Not so much anymore, but he use to have trouble keeping things to himself with her. Most likely because he never felt Cassandra was judging him, she was just listening. Kairi and Sora just couldn't understand some things. Their light burned a bit differently than hers. Cassandra was every bit as radiant and bright as Kairi, but something was different. Riku wasn't sure what.

Riku began walking towards the other area of the island. Just as he expected she was there. Cassandra was lying on her back sunbathing and watching Sora swim around in the water chasing fish for the raft.

_Shit. _

There was one thing Cassandra wasn't and it was stupid. Riku was almost positive she would grasp why Sora was scavenging for food if she looked up.

_Maybe looking for her was a bad idea...or maybe you can distract her from him._

The bright, blue-eyed boy began his trek towards the sunbathing girl. Cassandra was wearing a light green bikini top and a blue jean mini skirt. Every time she wore a two-piece or an article of clothing that exposed her stomach Riku had to remind himself not to stare at her stomach, but it was _so _hard to not notice the scar that mutilates her otherwise flawless skin.

Cassandra has always had the scar as long as Riku had known her. She had to have gotten it at a very young age. The scar began under the right side of her ribcage and carved down diagonally into her left hip.

Sora once asked how she got it. Riku cringed at the memory. He had always been too afraid to ask. Leave it to Sora to ask a completely inappropriate question. Either way Riku could not decide what was more peculiar, the scar itself of the fact that Cassy could not remember getting it. How could you forget getting something that must have been extremely painful?

Despite the deformity Cassy had never shown any signs of being self-conscious about it. She wore bikinis just like anyone else would. Knowing her she was probably proud of it.

One of Cassandra's bright blue-green eyes cracked open before she gazed up at him. Riku could never quite figure out her eye color. If he had to guess he would say they are more green than blue, but they definitely shone with subtle hints of blue.

"Yes?" she finally said, her voice full of curiosity.

Riku sat beside her and placed his elbows on his knees and peered out at the horizon again. He wasn't quite sure how to answer her so he chose not to. Cassandra did not continue to question him, and took his silence as a response. Riku liked that about her, she could take a hint. Cassandra always knew when to pick her battles.

After a long moment in comfortable silence, Cassandra finally sat up and looked at him.

"Riku," she called his name softly. Her tongue gently caressed the syllables of his name.

_That voice. Was she one of the voices from the dream? _

He knew it wasn't really a question or a statement. She was asking for permission to speak. Riku glanced back at the blonde girl as she grinned at him sweetly. He hated her smile.

"You ok?" she actually asked this time, but he was not going to this time either.

Riku simply sat in silence.

"Fine then don't tell me," she answered anyway as she closed her eyes and leaned back onto her elbows exposing her torso.

Riku's eyes wandered over her scar. He could not help it. The mutilation was not necessarily ugly it was just strange... Its coloring was mostly white. Again suggesting that had happened a long time ago. Some areas of the scar were still pink however. The scar contained a pink tint around her firm middle.

_It must have been deeper there. _

"I was just wondering where you were," he decided to answer.

Riku watched as her pink, plump lips curved upward smugly.

"I'm here," she smirked before sitting upright again and leaning toward him.

Riku felt her get closer to him as she playfully nudged his shoulder with one of her own.

"Smartass" he huffed at her as he leaned into the direction she nudged him toward.

Cassandra laughed at his reaction as she got up and walked away from him. Riku watched her head towards Wakka who was standing close to the waterfall by the seaside shack.

_Good now she won't notice dumbass. _

Riku was almost hurt she that she left his side...almost. He was also almost hurt that she didn't look back at him... almost.

Riku rubbed the shoulder Cassandra's warm skin had just touched his as he looked around for Sora, but Sora was nowhere to be found.

_When did he leave? _

Had he been _that_ distracted?

_Moron _he cursed himself.

.

.

.

Cassandra kept hearing thudding.

_What is that noise!_

She jerked up and began looking around. Sora was hitting coconut trees with his toy sword then collecting the yellow coconuts that fell to the white ground. Yellow coconuts were to eat, why did he need those? Cassandra's eyes widen. All of her suspicions were instantly confirmed.

_They are trying to another world._

Cassandra jumped up and instantly looked for Riku.

_Where did he go? _

She ran to the other end of the island and busted through the door separating the north side of the island from the south side. The door almost broke off its weak hinges from the impact. Riku was standing stoically, looking out at the horizon like a zombie the same way he had done for the past few months. Cassandra's blood was boiling. Her temper flared and she could control herself anymore.

"Are you stupid?" she challenged as she walked up to him, planting herself firmly on the ground in front of him.

"No, but I'm sure your going to enlighten me on how I am." He stated cooly before looking down into her painful glare.

Their eyes locked.

"Do you really think you can make it to another world on fish and coconuts? Do you honestly think that it will work? How do you even plan to get there?" she screamed as she violently poked his chest with her fingertips.

She was no longer able to control the volume of her voice.

_How dare he put Sora and Kairi in danger. He is older! He should know better! How could he be so selfish!_

"We have been making a raft," he confessed calmly as he grabbed her small wrist to stop the assault on his chest.

"A raft? You are going to go to other worlds in a _raft_?" she questioned, yanking her wrist from his grasp with more exertion than necessary.

Riku did not like the way she had pulled away from his grip.

"That's the original idea, yes," he answered again keeping his tranquil tone, but his hand stayed suspended in the air as if waiting for her wrist to return to him.

Cassandra took a deep breath to calms herself.

"It took magic to bring my family here. You know that. All three of you know that. My father had to get a magical stone from some crazy magician so that we could get out of our world. You know this and you think that a raft will break the wall that divides the worlds?" she asked him sincerely, her expression softening as she edged closer to him.

"It was our idea too," Kairi chimed in from the bridge, "we all thought of a raft. It isn't much, but it is all we have. We have done a really good job you should come see it!"

Cassandra looked at Kairi then back at Riku. She was out of things to say. She knew she could not stop this and she wasn't going to try to. If her friends wanted to do this then she would let them. They would receive her support even though she was scared.

"We weren't trying to leave you out Cass we just," Kairi began.

"No," Cassandra interrupted as she put a hand up to silence Kairi "I know you weren't leaving me out. I don't want any part of this." She admitted as she backed away from both of them.

A chill ran through her body as she wrapped her arms around herself, attempting to stop the foreboding cold from consuming her.

"That's why we didn't ask you," Riku reasoned "We all know your afraid of the outside world."

Cassandra knew that wasn't true. She knew the trinity and she knew she wasn't a part of it. Cassandra was just as much on the outside as Tidus or Wakka. Even if she was afraid of the outside world that was not the only reason she was excluded from this venture. The fact that she was afraid was irrelevant.

"Of course I am!" she snapped.

"It isn't safe. You don't know what is out there," the blonde female pleaded as she placed a hand gently over her heart.

"That is why we have to get out there and find out!" Riku yelled, taking a step toward the emerald-eyed girl.

The golden-haired girl knew that Sora and Kairi probably did want to see other worlds, but she also knew that this was mostly Riku's doing. You would have to be blind to not notice how miserable he was here. How desperate he was to see other worlds. Sora and Kairi may be curious, but they were not desperate.

Cassandra ripped her gaze away from him. She could not stand looking at him anymore.

"I won't tell. I will cover for you when you leave. I will even cover for you while you are gone." Cassandra whispered mainly for Riku to hear as her eyes dug holes into the ground by her feet.

Riku's eyes widened at Cassandra's words.

"Someone has to right?" she added as she peaked up at her friends, putting on her best smile.

Kairi ran to her best friend and embraced her briefly.

"I knew you would help us. Thank you," Kairi mumbled into Cassandra's ivory neck.

Kairi was shorter than Cassandra but only by a few centimeters.

Cassandra glanced at Riku who was staring at her blankly until their eyes met. The contact was too much and he decided to glare at the sandy ground instead.

"Come on, you have to look at the raft," Kairi said as she tugged Cassandra in the direction of the zip line.

The raft was small. Honestly Cassandra thought it was extremely flimsy for world travel. She was pretty sure they wouldn't make it too far.

"I got the coconuts," Sora mentioned as he dropped several coconuts onto the raft for Kairi to sort out.

"Hey are you coming?" Sora asked as he realized she was looking at the raft.

"No I am just examining it. I am going to cover for you guys though," she smiled at him.

"Ok Sora we still need fresh water and mushrooms" Kairi commanded as she placed her dainty hands on her hips.

"Got it," Sora responded as he ran in the direction of the bridge.

"Do you want to go?" Cassandra asked her friend as soon as Sora was out of sight.

Kairi's big blue eyes dilated at the question. Kairi clearly didn't see the question coming.

"Of course. But, I was kind of afraid at first," she answered as her cobalt eyes dropped to her shoes.

"Don't let him talk you into something you don't want to do," Cassandra said blandly and simply.

She knew she didn't have to say his name, they both knew who she was talking about.

"No I want to," Kairi reassured her. "It will be great, but Riku has changed."

"You sense it too," it wasn't a question.

"I am hoping it is just a phase. Maybe this venture is what he needs. Maybe this will be good for him. I know if you two are with him he will behave himself, and he can take care of you all I know that. But at the same time I am afraid that he might not be able to. I am more afraid of what he can't protect you from." Cassandra explained as she glanced out at the foreboding horizon.

Cassandra and Kairi both had a bit of a sixth sense and Cassandra knew that if Kairi was afraid at first that means that she sensed something. The blonde also knew Kairi would dull her senses down to make her friends happy.

"We can always come back if something does happen right?" the azure-eyed girl asked.

Cassandra wasn't sure whom she was trying to convince herself or everyone else.

Cassandra smiled before complying "Of course."

Kairi continued to talk about their plans, about Sora, about wanting to find her home, and maybe triggering some of her dormant memories.

Kairi was excited. Cassandra could see that and if she was excited she would be for her.

"Do you ever want to go see your old home?" Kairi asked as she sat on the raft next to her blonde friend.

It was a legitimate question, but she had no clue of how to answer it. Thinking about her home would mean thinking about her father and thinking about her father hurt.

She could not remember much of her home but what she did remember wasn't something she looked back fondly on. Suddenly she started to wonder if she would go back if she could.

Going back meant going back to what her family ran from. There was a reason they came to the islands. Although she could not really remember what they were running from, Cassandra was sure they would not have left for just anything. She was also pretty sure she didn't remember because she had repressed it. If she did not remember there was probably a reason she didn't.

For Cassandra her former home was a dead father. She would ask her mother about all of it but she had always been too afraid to. Cassandra lost her father, but her mother lost her husband. It did not matter anyway her true home was The Destiny Islands. It was where she belonged.

"No I don't really want to go back," she finally stated as she began to twirl a golden lock around her index finger.

"Why not? Wouldn't you want to see it again?" Kairi asked before pulling out her lucky charm and leaning against the mast of the raft.

"We came here because bad things happened," the blonde girl said, as her eyes became distant, "my family came here to start over, we fled from a bad situation. A situation I was too young to recall or comprehend, but I do know it was bad whatever it was. So going back probably wouldn't be a good idea."

"I didn't ask if it was a good idea. I asked if you wanted to." Kairi insisted again as she started adding the finishing touches to her charm.

"The place I would want to see probably doesn't exist anymore. The place I left probably isn't the place it is now. So it probably doesn't matter." Cassandra responded with a shrug.

Kairi realized she was not going to get the answer she was looking for and decided to drop it.

"Look," she called as she held the charm out in front of her for her best girl friend to inspect.

The older girl stood and caressed the back of the charm so she could angle it for the best view. The charm was adorable. Five identical shells are attached by thread to create a star in the center. A crown was placed in middle of the star and a face on the top shell that smiled innocently at her. Cassandra grinned. The face even has brown bangs and Cassandra could help but notice that the face reminded her of Sora.

"I love it," the girl with viridescent eyes stated innocently.

.

.

.

Cassandra commenced her walk back to the north side of the island with her head held low. Out of nowhere, Riku blocked the doorway before her. The jade-eyed girl exhaled and slowly raised her head to meet his gaze.

"Why?" he asked flatly as he barricaded the doorway with his arm.

She wasn't sure how to answer him. Cassandra raised a golden eyebrow and shrugged as her eyes glanced to the right away from his cold stare. She wanted to look anywhere but at him.

Riku growled and bluntly grabbed her shoulders to force her attention back to him. She could feel the leather of his black gloves pulling on her skin as his grip on her tightened. Cassandra uncomfortably shifted her shoulders a bit under the firm hold on he had on her arms.

"That is not an answer," he stated firmly as his hands flexed on her small arms.

They were much too close to each other. Their eyes interlocked and their breaths blended within the small space between them.

"Do I need a reason to help my friends?" she asked much too gently for his liking so he released her from his gloved hold.

Cassandra's eyes timidly wandered up his body to his face.

Riku's jaw was clenched and his eyes shot invisible ice daggers into her eyes.

Cassandra shivered under his frosty stare, but she did waver.

The icy boy sighed and reluctantly moved aside for her to pass.

"Thank you," he said as she stepped past him into the doorway.

Cassandra froze and looked over at the troubled young man. She could see so much turmoil within him. A storm rages within him and Cassandra did not know how to help him.

"Of course," she said to him as sweetly as she could.

He regarded her and she smiled as brilliantly as she knew how. Hoping that maybe some of her light could expel some of the darkness that was building within his essence. Riku rolled his eyes as Cassandra pushed on the door and stopped again.

"Will you find me?" she asked sincerely as she glanced over her shoulder back at him.

"What?" Riku didn't understand.

For a split second he thought she wanted him to come back for her.

_Does she want that? Why would she want me to come back to the islands for her? Does she think I am leaving permanently?_

"Will you find me before you leave?" she repeated as she leaned casually against the doorway.

If Riku blushed he would have.

_She just wants to say goodbye dumbass. _

"I will-I mean...yeah, we will find you." He assured her genuinely after stumbling over his words.

"Thank you," Cassandra answered softly.


	2. Catastrophe and Change

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. They belong to their original creators. In other words I do not own anything.

**Chapter 2 **

**Catastrophe and Change **

Cassandra could not stay on the island anymore. She needed air even though she was outside.

_How do you even suffocate outdoors_?

Her feet moved on their on volition and her mind raced as she tried to make her way back to the port. All she could think was that she needed to get home. Technically she did not even have to get home, she just wanted to be anywhere but where she was.

"Cassy!" she heard a perky voice call out to her.

The blonde's feet stopped and bury into the soft sand even though she wished she could keep moving.

"Hi Selphie," she decided to greet her while she still had the chance.

"Have you figured out what they are up to yet? I want us to figure it out before Wakka and Tidus do." Selphie yelped as she practically bounced around Cassandra as she kept trying to get to the wharf.

Selphie was dressed in her typical yellow attire, a cute little bright dress that fastened like overalls at the top. The tiny girl wore tiny brown, open toed slip on shoes that gavee her a bit more height, but the girl was still very short. Her bright pea green eyes practically glistening as she waited for Cassandra to answer her.

"No," she lied "I haven't figured it out yet."

"Come on Cass! We have to figure this out!" the spunky little girl chirped.

"Maybe we should start spying on them more closely. Or maybe we should just flat-out ask them? Oh! I bet I could make some costumes for us to use! Maybe some cute tight leather spy gear or maybe just some bushes for us to jump into like they do on cartoons. I don't know I really like the idea of cute stealth clothes like in those old spy movies. You know the ones that are mostly black with splashes of color like on the belt or a headband? I call yellow! You need green to bring out your eyes," she continued to blabber as her flipped out chestnut colored hair bounced with her.

Cassandra was really trying to listen but all train of thought was evading her as she noticed Sora emerging from the bottom of the big tree with his arms full of mushrooms. The older girl knew that Selphie was continuing to rattle on but something was wrong.

The golden-haired girl knew Selphie was talking, but she could not hear her anymore. All of the sounds around her subsided as she was helplessly summoned to the tree. The tree had a gravitational pull and Cassandra was helpless to defy its command. The tree demanded she go to it so she did.

_Are they here? _A voice inside her head asked.

After reaching the base of the tree she began approaching the hole Sora emerged from. Cassandra could hear everything involving the tree. The tree bark creaked, the leaves rustled and cracked, the roots pulsated and stretched within the ground and she could hear them drawing water from the crackling earth beneath her feet, she could even catch the sound of the water flowing as it coursed through the tree's veins.

Cassandra placed an ivory hand on the side of the tree and tried to peer past the moss, leaves, and vines that blocked the entrance Sora had just exited. She could overhear the moss swishing even though she could not physically see the moss move. Cassandra could only discern the sounds coming from the tree.

No, the earth speaking to her.

_Stop this, _the leaves crinkled.

_Unnatural, _the wind cried.

_Abomination, _the world spat.

The world, it was this world that was wailing inside of her head.

_Help us,_ the deep soil pleaded.

No, that wasn't the soil it was something more. It was speaking to her heart. Cassandra knew soil would not be able to penetrate her heart's barrier. It _has_ to be something more.

The wind groaned and grumbled within the opening at base of the tree. The sound was different. Cassandra could hear the world crying out to her. The world was speaking to her, but she had no idea what it meant. She did not know what was trying to express. But that ungodly sound from within the mouth of that tunnel was not the planet calling out to her. It did not sound like the wailing wind, it was something more sinister than wind.

_Run, _the wind whispered into her subconscious.

Emerald eyes traveled up the trunk of the tree as a loud heartbeat began hammering against her eardrums. Her grip tightened on the bark and her hand trembled as the bark splintered into her fingertips. Her hand should hurt from the force, but she could not feel a thing. The heartbeat was quickening and growing louder. The girl's own heart began to match the rhythm of the hammering inside her head.

_Intrusion _the bark bit and chewed into her fingertips, but the young woman did not flinch.

Cassandra removed her hand from the tree bole and headed toward the entrance again.

_No _the shivering leaves of the entrance warned her, but she did not listen.

The young girl embraced the lush foliage with her hands in order to enter the base of the tree.

Cassandra's jade eyes dilated and visions filled her brain and invaded her perspective until her mind felt that it will burst if she saw one more apparition. Nerves are screaming at her hands to release the traitorous foliage that was causing her such discomfort, but the grip did not slacken.

A man was in there. He was in a black cloak. The ominous man stared at a wooden door with no door handle before him. The scene shifts and Sora was with him. They were surrounded by rock walls covered in child like scribbles. Roots from the tree cascade down into the roof of the underground structure and eventually travel down some of the walls. Sora begins shaking his fist at the man and his lips move but the words are never heard. The scene shifts again, Sora was suddenly gone and the mysterious man was staring at her.

_Can he see me? _She asked herself.

She did not know because she could not see his face. He began lurching toward her.

The girl wanted to scream and run but she couldn't. She was completely paralyzed. He got closer and closer but Cassandra did nothing but watch the sinister man close in on her. She was frantic and was desperately trying to move but nothing on or in her body was responding to her. Everything was experiencing extreme paralysis. Cassandra tried to scream as loud as humanly possible. Her vocal chords begged for relief although she could not hear them make any trace of a sound. The vision obscured and the scream fills her ears and her vocal chords lacerated and tore at her esophagus until she felt herself falling backwards from the force of the scream that finally erupted from her throat.

Cassandra cannoned onto the ground and stared blankly at the entrance to the base of the tree as she backed away from the entrance as quickly and efficiently as she could while basically sitting. Her feet shoved and kicked the ground in front of her and her hands scratched at the earth as if to throw it before her and create distance between her and the man she knew was coming for her. She ripped at the ground behind her until her fingernails began bowing. Breaths spasmed out of her throat and she could suddenly hear again.

"Cassandra, are you alright?" Selphie begged her as warm hands stopped her from scrabbling backwards anymore.

"She has gone crazy!" Tidus's voice reached her ears.

Cassandra looked up and saw Wakka supporting her back and looking down at her with big, brown, concerned eyes. Selphie stood next to Tidus with both of her hands over her mouth in shock.

_How long had she stood there? How long did **that** last?_

"Someone is in there," was all she could muster as her eyes darted between each of her friends.

"Cassandra we have been here the whole time. No one is in there." Wakka assured her as he started helping the shaken girl to her feet.

"No I saw someone in there," she choked out as she felt tears prickling behind her blue-green eyes as she began regaining her senses.

Unfortunately regaining her senses meant feeling pain and she could not stop her eyes from tearing.

"We were about to go exploring in there, but by the time we got here you were already here having an episode. Did you not hear us?" Tidus asked and approached the base of the tree as he rubbed the back of his neck.

The quivering girl simply shook her head no. She didn't hear anything. The only thing she did hear was the world or what she assumed was the world. Did she imagine that man? Was he still here? Or was what she saw the past? Or the future?

Wakka and Tidus began heading into the mouth of the tree trunk.

"NO! Someone is in there!" she screeched as she chased after them and gripped Wakka's tanned arm.

"Don't go!" she begged the orange haired young man with pleading tear filled eyes.

Wakka stopped his pursuit, but Tidus was already inside the mouth of the tree. Cassandra leaned into Wakka and buried her face into his bare exotically colored arm. She wrapped her arms tightly around his and whimpered softly. The older boy patted her arm and listened for Tidus.

"All clear!" the blonde boy called from within the cave.

Tidus was telling them that it was safe, but she just could not believe him. The hyper, young boy then began to investigate the surroundings now that he knew some lunatic was not within the underground passage. Cassandra could hear him hitting rocks with his red staff he used to battle with Sora, Riku, Wakka, and Selphie.

She clung to Wakka's arm as if her life depended upon it.

"Something really shook you up ya?" he pointed out as he gazed down at the girl who has latched onto him with kind brown eyes.

The young man was not sure how to soothe the poor girl's nerves so he simply continued to offer her his arm and stroke her shoulders.

Cassandra knew someone was in there. She saw him, felt him, and heard him. Imagining a person with such detail was impossible. That dark man may not be in that cave now, but he was she knew he was at some point.

Selphie caressed her shoulder length golden tresses and muttered, "What did you see?"

After deciding to remove her face from Wakka's bicep the blonde girl looked back at her concerned companion. "A man, I think," she confessed.

The more she thought about the encounter the more she thought that whoever that was wasn't necessarily human.

Quivering hands continued to dig into the crook of Wakka's arm as she attempted to placate herself.

Visions have haunted her before, but nothing like this. The apparitions usually took the form of dreams, but she usually knew when the dreams are not dreams.

The visions were too real to be dreams and too detailed to be from her imagination. After the dream ended she could not stop relating it to her conscious surroundings. Sometimes she thought she was going mad for thinking a dream to be anything more than a hallucination or fantasy. Dreams could not predict the future or recall the past. That was just not possible or even realistic. Maybe Tidus was right. Maybe she had gone crazy.

Suddenly she realized she should probably let go of Wakka's limb and stop acting like she should be wrapped up in a straight jacket. Exhaling heavily she removed her embrace from the older boy.

"I think I am ok now," she declared.

"Go ahead and check it out. I know you want to," the girl with emerald eyes continued to insist as she grinned half heartedly up at the tall young man.

"Are you sure? I am not going if you need me," he reminded her before giving her a warm smile.

"I'm sure. Go," she commanded as she gently pushed him forward in the direction of the underground passage.

"I am probably going to go home though. I have had enough excitement for today. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Tidus!" she called down into the dark tunnel.

She was _not_ about to go in there.

"This is lame! There is nothing in here but stonewalls and rocks with scribbles on them! Cavemen imposters have been here already!" he complained.

Cassandra would take that as a goodbye and made a mental note to point out all the things wrong with that statement later.

"Take care of yourself ya? Get some rest." Wakka instructed her as he placed a big gentle hand on her shoulder before heading into the darkness.

She nodded and beamed back at him.

Once the boy in yellow was out of sight Cassandra's forged smile fell instantly. She sighed and immediately began rushing past Selphie to again attempt her trek to her boat.

"Are you leaving?" Selphie asked as she scrambled after the blonde girl who was moving faster than she anticipated, her hair flipping and bouncing as she sprinted after Cassandra.

"Yes," she answered coldly as she made her way up the uneven, sand covered wooden steps of the dock.

"I will be back early tomorrow." _I have to tell them goodbye._

_._

_._

_._

It has never taken her so long to get back to the mainland. Her mind was overloaded and she needed to get somewhere where she could sort through her thoughts and hopefully put some of them away to be addressed later. Getting them away from the front of her mind was her first goal.

Children scurried around the tiny hut like buildings that double as establishments and homes. The architecture of the islands was simple and very distinct. The houses and shops varied in size, design, and layout but they all had the look of island life. Most of the houses were clearly not literal huts, but they contained the features of them.

Building design of the Destiny Islands was obviously an evolution of the typical island shack. Some of the older inhabitants did still live in huts, but most, like Cassandra, live in regular cottage like homes with white outside walls, dusky orange roofing, and typical window shutters with small or large chimneys that lazily spat smoke into the ozone.

She walked the man-made paths through the village toward her home. Simple street lamps and quant benches lined the sandy paths that guide its inhabitants to their destinations.

The smaller lower class homes lined the areas next to the ports while middle and upper class homes were located farther inland. The true upper class had their own tiny island where they lived in their condo like residences that overlook the ocean. As nice as these homes were this was still The Destiny Islands so the "upper class" wasn't all that impressive. Compared to the rest of the island inhabitants they were considered to be the upper class.

The islands were small, quant, and simple but like any other world there was some variation of class and people. Even if the population was tiny.

Cassandra knew the islands were very plain and simple. Her memories told her that other worlds have roads, streets, sidewalks, buildings that scrape the sky, rolling plains and forests, and castles. Unlike Riku, that did not bother her. She loved the islands, the vast ocean, and the sound of the gulls, the white sand, the lush foliage, and the palm and coconut trees. That environment was enough for her. Perhaps it was because she did have some memory of something beyond creamy sand and endless water. Cassandra had tasted the outside world and maybe that was what sated her from the longing for other worlds her friend's possessed.

Cassandra's home laid toward the center of the island where the elevation increased. Her house was buried within an island hillside among many other homes. Finally she reached her front door. She prayed that Gigi is there. A distraction would be wonderful.

"What are you doing here?" a curious ladylike voice asked her from behind.

Cassandra recognized the tone as well as the voice that addressed her. It was her older sister.

_Great._

Sophie was obviously Cassandra's sister. The sisters had similar looks even though they did not necessarily favor one another. Cassandra was smaller with blue-green eyes and her golden hair fairer than that of her sister. Sophie's hair was more dirty blonde and closer to being considered brown and her eyes were clearly a simple, baby blue.

"I wanted to come home. Is that so strange?" the younger sibling replied as she removed her hand from the coffee-colored doorknob.

"Yes because when you go to that island you are never back before dusk. Spill." Sophie demanded.

The boy with mahogany hair standing beside her did nothing but listen to the exchange between the sisters. Cassandra was use to the parade of boys that come through their home with her sibling. She could never remember their names though. The younger sister used to try to remember the boys Sophie brought around, but they leave so quickly she stopped seeing the point.

"No. I just wanted to come home," she fibbed as she opened the front door to her home.

"Hi Cassandra," the boy with chocolate-colored hair and brown, doe eyes addressed her.

"Hi um..." she snapped her fingers and squinted her eyes as she tried to think of his name.

"Argus," he answered for her uncomfortably.

"Right Argus. Sorry I can never keep all of your names straight," Cassandra said casually as a sly grin started making its way across her face.

She loved messing with little miss perfect.

"I don't see anyone paying attention to you!" Sophie yelled then began to play with her long, loose braid that usually swayed just above her hips.

The older sister hauled the long dirty blonde braid over her shoulder to inspect the loose ends.

"I saw Riku running after Kairi today. Needless to say I didn't see him chasing after you.," she added casually.

Cassandra bristled.

Sophie had always enjoyed picking at her younger sister about boys. She had always suspected that her sister has had a subconscious crush on Riku and she loved to watch her squirm when she suggested it.

"Oh shut up!" Cassandra hissed as she yanked her sister's bulbous braid.

"Ow!" Sophie cried and caressed the harmed tresses as she protectively held them closer to her chest.

"Girls, please stop," their mother scolded nonchalantly as she passed them to enter their living room.

Celia was use to her daughters bickering. It was to be expected with daughters that have such strong but different personalities.

"Yes mother," Sophie responded first in the most innocent tone possible before bowing her head in submission.

"Suck up," Cassandra mumbled under her breath.

Sophie would always be the flawless angel in the family.

"Greta, is Gigi here?" the youngest daughter asked their short, bouncy, and rounded housekeeper as she emerged from the laundry room bottom first, her hands full of clean clothing.

Greta had always been around as long as Cassandra could remember. Greta came to the islands with them when they were forced to leave their original world. The housemaid worked for them more out of pleasure than for actual profit. Greta grew attached to the children at their former world and could not bear to part with them or the dear friend she gained in Celia.

After their father's death Greta knew Celia would need her help and companionship. Raising three children alone in a new place would not be an easy task. Greta never had any family of her own, so she tried to fill the void left in their lives as they filled the one in hers.

"Yes dear she is in the dining room. Are you all right Cassy? You look pale." The gentle, chubby housekeeper asked as the placed the clothing on the floor so the could place her hand on the younger girls forehead.

"I'm fine," Cassandra flared as she pulled away from her other, gray-haired caretaker.

Greta sighed as her blue grey eyes fell before picking the clothing back up. Cassandra had always been the most difficult of the three children. Always. Cassandra would not be Cassandra if she was not challenging the woman grinned to herself.

Sophie noticed her sister's odd behavior and continued following her.

"Seriously, all joking aside are you ok?" she questioned sincerely as she walked beside her sister.

Sophie loved to annoy her sister, but looking after her would always come first.

_Why does everyone keep asking me that? _Cassandra wondered.

"I will be," Cassandra replied.

It was not a complete lie. She would be ok eventually. The fairer of the blondes would also be better if she could see her grandmother. Sophie motioned for Argus to wait for her in the living room with her mother.

"You know I will find out even if you don't tell me," it was more of a threat than a statement.

Cassandra finally arrived chalky colored kitchen. She could see her Gigi. The silver-haired woman with bright blue eye and hair that streams all the way down her back sits calmly playing cards on the kitchen table.

"Sophie stop pestering your sister," the ethereal older woman chided, her eyes never leaving the cards that laid before her.

Cassandra smiled smugly up at her sister. Gigi would always take up for her even if no one else would. Sophie may win over everyone else, but their grandmother would never be bias.

"Yes grandmother." Sophie surrendered and exited the room.

The younger blonde took a seat next to her elder and laid her head on the smooth, white table.

"What troubles you child?" the older woman asked as she began running her slender fingers through her youngest granddaughter's yellow locks that mimicked luminous rays of sunshine.

_Again? Do I look ill? Am I that transparent? _

"Lots of things," she said under her breath into her folded arms.

The grandmother knew Cassandra did not wish to speak of what ailed her. She also knew her grandchild was not one to speak when asked. Cassandra would talk to her when she was ready, that was just how she was. Until she was ready the grandmother would wait and comfort her with her presence.

For what seemed like hours Cassandra simply sat next to her grandmother in silence and let the old woman play with her hair while her mind wandered. As she sat in the kitchen with her elder reality was starting to sink in. Three of her best friends were leaving tomorrow. What would she tell everyone? She said she would cover for them, but she wasn't so sure she could anymore. Cassandra would try her best, but she was not sure it would be enough for their parents.

The blonde girl would probably suffer the consequences for not telling. That was ok. She would take the heat if she had to, and she would because no one else could. She would be the girl who knew, but did not tell. Cassandra was letting them leave. If something happened to them because she did not tell the young woman would never forgive herself. Her thoughts had gotten too depressing, so she decided to change her thought process.

"Grandma?" she said softly, finally breaking the lingering stillness as she raised her head to look at her grandparent's tender eyes.

Gigi was her father's mother. Gigi was all they have left of him. Their grandmother did not necessarily look like her father, but Cassandra could see pieces of him when she gazed at the aged woman. Gigi did not have her father's eyes, but Cassandra did. Her eyes mirrored the same unusual coloring of her father's. Cassandra had often wondered if it hurt her family to peer into her eyes.

"Yes?" the silver-haired woman retorted.

Her hair was mostly silver, but was streaked with many lines of white throughout her exceptionally long mane. She usually wore her lengthy hair in a small bun on her aging head, but if she was in a casual setting he released it. Cassandra loved how ethereal her grandmother looked; she was unusually beautiful even with age.

"Have you ever heard the world? Like in your head?" Cassandra knew the question was out there, but her grandmother was the only person she could think of who might understand.

"I never have, but I have heard of such a thing being possible," her grandmother stated before standing and extending her hand to her grandchild.

Sighing, Cassandra accepted her extended hand. She wanted her to practice and she probably wanted to get her mind of the bizarre question she just asked.

So far Cassandra and Sophie had shown little promise of becoming white mages like the women on their father's side. Sophie lacked the patience and interest and Cassandra lacked the skill. Neither had been able to successfully cast any form of magic. Cassandra was starting to think it was impossible. If she hadn't seen her grandmother cast before she would have thought all of it was fictional.

Gigi planted herself onto the ground beneath the shade of a large palm tree in their backyard. Cassandra mimicked her grandmother's movements, rooting herself into the ground in front of her instructor. The student mage groaned. She had done this thousands of times with little to no results. Gigi pointed to the small flower that was growing between them.

Over the years Cassandra's mother had managed to grow a small garden in their back yard that favored the gardens of their old home. Celia struggled to find flowers and shrubs that would grow in the tropical climate, but she managed to capture a little of her former world's extravagant gardens. Cassandra enjoyed the atmosphere and how unique it was and how it was all vaguely familiar to her senses. The smells tickled at sleeping memories, but not to the point of remembrance.

"Remember, white magic is the essence of life. It heals. Do not think of it as power. You are lending aid to others. You are a healer not a destroyer. Power is needed to destroy not to heal," she reminded her pupil.

"What about Holy? Is it not some form of power?" Cassandra inquired as she fidgeted with the jagged edges of her jean skirt.

"You are getting ahead of yourself. Holy will come later. Much, much later. First you need to learn your basics and to do that you must be able to cast Cure," Gigi argued.

She worried that Cassandra could be too fixated on power to be an effective white mage.

They practiced on plants to ensure that the spell had been cast properly. If Cure and elements of white magic were present the plant would respond and grow. White magic was an extension of life; it offered its life to all living things making plants great practice dummies.

Gigi began to demonstrate. She stretched her wrinkled hand over the small bud as her fingertips began glowing white. Swirls and many shades of green and yellow spiraled around her hand until a small ball of energy formed at the base of her palm. The sphere swelled then floated gracefully down to the flower bud, leaving a trail of white in its wake. Leaves begin outstretching toward the source of the energy as the bud bloated and began spreading into a tiny white flower. Gigi quickly withdrew her hand and the blossom ceased its development as the bloom wrinkled and closed.

"Help it Cassandra," she commanded as she gripped her granddaughter's wrist and placed her hand directly on top of the flower.

Cassandra swallowed hard as she closed her eyes as tightly as she could. She thought of the dying flower and how she wanted to help it. Cassandra knew if she didn't succeed the blossom would die like so many of the others, but she could not think of death. She had to think of life and existence. Her eyes tightened even more as she tried to channel her essence into a physical manifestation.

Fingertips began to tingle and she started flinching.

"Don't stop," her grandmother firmly scolded.

The nervous girl swallowed the lump in her throat and tried not to lose the energy that had traveled down to her fingertips. This was where she would freeze and all of her progress would come to a brutal halt. The energy traveled through her bones and muscles to her fingers, but it would not release. It would not take on a physical form. Muscles spasmed and singed her nerves as the energy continued to dwell within her arm. She was holding it for too long and it was starting to cause her pain.

Cassandra tried harder and her shoulders rose, her head lowered as she continued to concentrate on releasing the effervescence that grew in her hand. Bitter chills sprinted across her palm as one of her eyes gradually opened to witness what was happening.

A very dim glowing light had manifested within the palm of her hand and the wilted plant was twitching against the light. The glow was not as bright or colorful as Gigi's but Cassandra had managed to create some manifestation of Cure. Her hand was growing colder and the light was brightening as it began coating her hand as she attempted to give the manifestation more juice.

_The flower is growing! _

She felt excitement swelling inside of her then the light was abruptly snuffed out. The spell had been extinguished just as quickly as it appeared. Her arm went limp and the muscles inside of it twitched from the exertion.

The small floret began wilting and falling toward the ground.

"Why can't I do it," Cassandra hissed as she brought her legs to her chest and buried her face into her arms.

"These things can take time," Gigi said as she shot a mini orb of spiraling light to the dying flower.

"You are probably too troubled today to find your equilibrium. I figured as much, but I also know that you needed a distraction from whatever it was that upset you," the flower began sprouting and finally gained a permanent bloom.

Cassandra had always hated when she talked about equilibrium and balance. It always sounded like Cassandra was unstable. However, she knew that being tranquil and balanced had a lot to do with being a white mage. How could you bring balance to another's body if you yourself were not balanced?

"It will be easier once you find that balance. The realization and knowledge of that comes to everyone differently. One day you will be able to bring equilibrium within yourself even if you are troubled. However, you must first know what it feels like to reach that level of tranquility, but after you do imitating it will become second nature to you." Gigi reassured her grandchild.

Cassandra nodded.

"I have had enough for today," she announced as she stretched and brought herself to her feet.

_No more mystical things today._

_._

_._

_._

Riku could not sleep. The anticipation was too much for him to be able to even doze. Tomorrow they were setting sail and Riku could not stand the wait. Ice blue eyes peered up at his blank, black ceiling as his mind hopelessly wandered.

He wondered how far they will be able to get. He remembered Sora asking how far a raft could possibly take them and honestly Riku did not know, but he did want to find out. If they were lucky they could reach another world on the raft and then restock and maybe get a new form of transportation once they were there.

Thunder clapped and Riku jerked.

_No! No, no, no, no, no! Not a storm! Not now! _

Riku could not get out of his bed quick enough. If the raft was ruined they would have to start over and he would have to stay here longer. Riku was _not_ staying here any longer. He would leave this island no matter what.

The young man slung his clothes on and barreled through his door. He did not care if his parents heard him. He was not letting anything stop him not even them. Riku was going to save the raft and he was going to leave this prison surrounded by water. The sound of footsteps reached his ears and he knew he would have to be quicker if he wanted to get out of the house before his parents attempted stop him so he ran as fast as he could through his front door not caring if it shut behind him or not.

Something was wrong. This storm was not a normal storm. The sky was much too dark and the wind was much too foreign. Riku had never felt the wind move up towards the sky before. It was as if the sky was trying to suck up the island itself.

Riku climbed onto the rickety dock and glanced up at the sky. There was no moon and no stars. The only thing above him was a vast amount of darkness. Then he saw it. The object that was literally pulling at the world itself.

_The door has opened _the pulsating red orb enlightened him.

At least he thought it was the orb speaking to him. Maybe it was the darkness that surrounds the new, ominous sky that informed him of this.

"What door?" he asked the voice.

_The door you have been begging for. The door that separates you from what you want. The door you have summoned. The door you have demanded be opened. The door to the outside world. The door to darkness._

_._

_._

_._

"Get up!" Celia yelled as she yanked the light blue covers off of a curled up Cassandra then threw open the doors to her daughter's closet. The young girl shivered and pulled herself into a tighter ball as if to escape the new cold that was caressing her exposed skin.

"What is it?" Cassandra yawned as she rubbed her tired green eyes.

"This world is about to disappear," her mother announced as she threw her daily clothes at her.

Cassandra was positive she was hearing things, but she got up to put her clothes on anyway. On her way to the clothing the young girl took a detour and walked to her satin covered window and pealed back the sheer pale curtains. It just looked like an average thunderstorm to her. She shrugged then removed the oversized white t-shirt she was wearing and stepped into her regular crimson and black plaid shirt. She drug the skirt up her ivory legs then slid on her matching plain dark tank top over her exposed torso.

"Hurry!" her mother cried as she left the girl's room.

Cassandra didn't understand. Is it even possible for a world to disappear? The bewildered girl exited her room and followed after her mother.

"Mom?" she called from the top of the stairs.

Suddenly The blonde girl felt really light-headed. She leaned against the stair's banister and groaned as she rubbed her aching temples. Her mother was right. Something was definitely wrong. She could feel it.

"If there is a storm outside shouldn't we stay inside?" Sophie asked her younger sister as she too approached the stairwell.

Cassandra shrugged she honestly did not know what to make of all this.

"Maybe it's not a storm. Mom doesn't think so," she answered as she tried to brush off her light-headedness.

"I don't want to get up. Can't I stay in bed mother, please?" the two sisters turned to watch their mother drag their eleven-year-old brother by his wrist from his bedroom.

Celia snatched off his pajamas and threw on Lucas's day-to-day clothes.

Luke's golden blonde wavy locks are messy and disheveled from his interrupted slumber. Sky blue eyes the same color, as Celia's and Sophie's were hooded and distant.

"No Luke. We have to go somewhere safe." Celia informed her sleepwalker son as she took a deep breath.

She grabbed fistfuls of her dirty blonde chin length hair and called for Greta.

If what Cassandra's mother said was true, Cassandra wasn't sure they could get somewhere safe. How do you escape the world you inhabit if that world itself was dissolving? Where do you go? How do you escape something that inevitable? She was sure that her mother was thinking of all this.

The youngest daughter made her way down the stairs and saw Greta's shadow scurrying across the creamy walls. Cassandra didn't know what her hurry was; it was not like you could take anything with you if your world is fading.

She made her way to the bench by the front door and coat rack and took a seat. The blonde girl was _so _tired. All she wanted to do was sleep.

"Cassandra don't sit down!" her mother shouted.

The younger girl felt Sophie lifting her to her bumbling feet.

"Why not? Mom what is going on?" the eldest child interrogated as she held her younger sister up by her shoulders.

"This world is about to be eclipsed by darkness. It is going to vanish and we may disappear with it. That is why _you_" their mother pinched Cassandra's arm for emphasis "need to stay awake! You can dissolve just like this world and there is no telling where you will end up."

"If the heart of this world is taken we all need to stay together. If we do disperse we need to make sure we do it together," Greta added as she emerged from the kitchen with a bag full of food and water.

"What are you two talking about?" Sophie was getting jumpy and impatient as her ashen blue eyes dashed back and forth between the two older women.

"This world is losing its heart Sophie. Just as people have hearts worlds have them as well. Something has damaged or taken the heart of this world. The world is off kilter and everything on it is at risk. This world is no longer capable of supporting life. We will likely end up on another planet. One that is still able to support existence. That is why we need to keep your sister awake. She is likely feeling the effects of a world no longer able to support her existence. If she dematerializes before we do we will probably not end up in the same place. I cannot guarantee we will even if we do stay together, but I am going to assume we have better odds." Celia tried to explain as her slender fingers ran through her son's thick, wavy locks before he laid his tired head against her hip.

_Is that what I heard by the tree? The world's_ heart? Cassandra asked herself.

"What! How do you even know all this?" Sophie had never been one to accept the unnatural and she wasn't about to start now. If it was unusual or different she would try to make logical sense of it.

"It just looks like a storm!" the skeptical young woman slung her arms in the direction of the sky to stress her point.

"A long time ago when you were just children some of the scientists from our former home once told your father about such things. They warned us that something like this was becoming possible. I never thought it would actually happen though," Celia patted Lucas's head, trying to make him more alert.

Cassandra was only somewhat listening to these in-depth explanations of the situation they had found themselves in. Hooded blue-green eyes gazed at her brother. She doubted he understood any of this. Lucas would just do whatever their mother instructed them to do. Sophie was the only one using logic. The young girl started thinking she probably should too, but she was just so exhausted...

Celia made her way to the front door and pulled back the white curtains that usually shielded the sun from entering the small window of the front door.

"Do regular storms have that?" she asked as she opened the door and pointed at the ominous orb that dangled from the sky on an invisible thread.

Electricity crackled around the red-eye as black and indigo auras aggressively pulsated and howled like nothing that had ever graced human ears.

The front door shuttered and the entire house grumbled as the orb breathed in the world itself. Debris was tossed around the sphere and then spat back onto the unsuspecting ground. Chaos was beginning to unfold outside.

"We should get out of the house," Greta demanded and Celia nodded and pulled her youngest child to her side and prepared to coach him forward.

Cassandra's head lobbed over and Greta quickly shook her shoulders, "stay with us Cassy please."

The girl nodded drunkenly and tried to find her feet.

Porcelain hands rose before her eyes and her vision blurred. Or was she blurring? Her hands shook, morphed, and finally blended together until they barely had the appearance of hands. Now she was even more dizzy.

"No, you have to stay awake!" her lifelong caretaker reminded her.

Thunder rolled and lightening cracked but rain never fell to the earth. The wind pulled upward but it never blew. People could sense the imbalance and scampered desperately around the village. Cassandra sensed the chaos around her, but she could not focus. Green eyes concentrated on the ground and she swore that her faint shadow had bright yellow eyes.

_You are falling asleep. _

Islanders screamed and yelled as they headed for the ports and ferries.

Palm trees and street lamps started dissolving from the world. Small details of the island are beginning to subtly vanish. No one would notice unless they were playing close attention. Details and textures began to dull and blend together.

"Will we take a boat?" she caught the end of a conversation.

"It is our only choice," her mother answered her short housekeeper, "we have to find Gigi first."

Cassandra stared at the yellow eyes and suddenly her shadow has antenna that twitched towards the direction of her feet.

"Cassandra!" a voice reached her ears and she jumped as the shadow receded back into the ground.

_How did I have a shadow at night? _

Riku's mother ran against the bellowing wind and panic-stricken islanders towards them, her sandy brown hair whipping painfully into her icy eyes identical to those of her son. Instantly Cassandra was completely alert again.

_He is gone. He has gone after that stupid raft! _

"Riku is gone," Renee, stated what the golden blonde haired girl already knew, "and we can't find Kairi either."

Her voice was hoarse and shaky as she spoke to the family.

This was all her fault. She should have told someone, but she could not change that now.

"I know where they are," she confessed "I can find them"

And just like that her feet were carrying her towards the beach facing their island.

Blonde hair slapped into her face and neck so hard she knew it was leaving marks. The girl knew her mother was screaming at her to come back and she may even be chasing after her, but somehow none of that mattered. All of the warnings and lectures about staying together have left her. She had never been this reckless or flat-out stupid. Guilt could drive people to do unusual things and Cassandra was definitely feeling guilty.

.

.

.

"Come on!" she screamed at the miniature boat that refused to go into the water with her.

It was as if the boat was even afraid of the murky abyss that no longer had the appearance of water. Pale legs traveled further into the wild, blackening water. The new red moon that corrupted their sky now stained the surface of the water with blood. Cassandra was in shallow water, she knew that from experience but the water was much too feral to have accurate depth. Water only came to her knees but her entire skirt was soaking wet.

Tawny eyes were in the water, the same eyes that imitated her shadow earlier. Only two appear at first, then four, and then eight, then ten. A gasp escaped her lips then a bitterly cold hand yanked at her ankle. She screamed as her leg was pulled out from under her and she was forced further into the water. Her knee managed to keep her upper body above the blood kissed surface.

"Let go!" she cried as she hysterically tried to kick whatever it was that was pulling her under.

There was nothing for her to see to kick at. The piercing yellow eyes blended into the darkness of the water and she had no way of knowing where the _thing_ that grabbed her actually was.

_Get in the boat get in the boat get in the boat. _

With one final jerk of her leg she managed to seize it from the frigid hand. At least she thought it was a hand. Sloppily, she hauled herself into the vessel as a yelp crawled out of her mouth. She was spent, but she knew she had to get to the island. Strength eluded her as the exhausted girl laid in the bottom of the boat and her lungs burned and pleaded for oxygen.

_I didn't have strength to get out of bed and I definitely didn't have the energy to do this. _

"Get up!" she scolded herself as she sat up and grabbed the oars that lay lifelessly beside her.

Cassandra faced the mainland and began to row backwards. The ocean was suddenly thick and uneven. It stained the once pearly sand until she realized it was not the water. Animals the size of dogs start squirming out of the water towards the mainland.

_So that was what grabbed me. _

They emerged by the thousands and crawled eerily towards land as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

_This is a nightmare._

Adrenalin pulsated through her veins. She needed to hurry.

The boat roughly collided into the bottom of the dock and she leapt from the safety of her watercraft into the black shore. It was deeper than she anticipated. The ocean was thick and acidic. She cried aloud as the mass hissed, steamed, and burned her legs and exposed lower stomach. Her limbs fought what use to be water as she desperately tried to reach the land. Arms swayed and her legs lunged as she fought the sickening thick oily texture and pull of the deadly fluid. The water no longer splashed, but it sloshed and gurgled against her frenzied movements. Gradually the acidic ocean withdrew, as she got closer to the beach. Clumsily, she hopped and then crawled to the sand that created the beach.

Trembling hands grabbed fistfuls of blackened sand as the thick, muddled fluids cascaded down her steaming body onto the hardened beach. Gagging, she spat mouthfuls of the toxic liquid from her burning mouth. She crawled further and further inland until she was positive she was where the lethal ocean could no longer harm her. Once she was certain she was far enough away she collapsed onto what use to be soft, white sand. Her mother was right the world was dying.

.

.

.

Dazzling blue eyes shoot open within the abundant darkness. A foreign familiar cry had brought him out of his thoughts. Someone was here with him. Riku had been expecting Sora and Kairi to arrive any moment to check on their raft, but the cry he heard was not Kairi's. Riku knew her cries by heart and he would know them anywhere. His cold gaze wandered to the direction of the shriek, but he did not see anyone.

_I know I heard something. _

Riku blinked and then saw a small body crumpled on the beach.

_Why didn't I see that before? I was just looking there!_

Frosty blue eyes squinted as they try to examined the body from his island. Riku saw blonde hair and he reeled backwards.

_Cass. _

He did not waste time with the stairs within the seaside shack; instead he jumped from the bridge to gain immediate access to the beach where the girl laid. Once he hit the ground beneath the bridge he winced and instantly regretted the decision to jump. Instead of being comforted by the give of soft off bleached sand, Riku collided with hard coal-black earth. He winced, but did not stop his journey to the broken down girl.

By the time he reached her she was already to her feet and she stumbled gracelessly towards him. The blonde girl could not stop herself and she helplessly fell into arms he was not even aware he had outstretched for her to plummet into. The smell of vanilla invaded his senses as her hair frolicked around his neck and chin. His old friend was slightly covered in what looked like watered down black sludge. It almost felt like oil. Ice blue eyes scanned the beach and followed the trail of thick ooze the girl had left in her wake. Was that supposed to be water?

Cassandra gripped his bent elbows and breathlessly whimpered "I found you," as she held him at arm's length creating space between them after their awkward embrace.

Riku continued to grasp the back of her arms, as he made sure she was able to stand on her own.

"You found me," he echoed blandly.

Their eyes meet then they instantly released each other.

"Your mother is looking for you. You need to go back she is worried," she commanded.

Riku bristled.

"No," he answered harshly.

"Riku things are bad. Something is wrong with this world, we have to go back," the girl tried again.

She looked very tired.

"The door has opened. We can finally be free," he completely ignored her last statement.

Riku took a step toward Cassandra "Come with us. You are here now. We can all go together. We can…"

Bright turquoise eyes widened with fear and she backed away from him as if he had threatened her life.

"How can you talk about this now," she whimpered as she continued to distance herself from him.

"Come with me," he repeated as he held his gloved hand out for her.

Opaque eyes narrowed and stared at the invitation. A porcelain hand rose and she almost reached out to him, but she shrank away and shook her head frantically. Cassandra backed away from the boy with silver hair with terror filled eyes as she continued to create distance between them.

"No," she spoke softly.

The blonde girl backed away until her legs buckled beneath her and she tumbled to the ground. Riku blinked and he could swear she was translucent. He could see right through her.

"Cassy," a worried call bolted from his throat and he walked toward her without thinking.

A gloved hand reached out to her.

"Don't touch me!" she sobbed and her head fell as she attempted to position herself on all fours.

Probably to get away from him. Riku recoiled. She had never spoken to him like that. It almost hurt...

The golden-haired girl started to dissipate before him. Her essence glowed the same unique color green as her eyes then faint traces of light begin trickling from her body before evaporating towards the sky. Riku could not stand it any longer. He knelt to grab her, at that point it no longer mattered to him whether she wanted him to or not. He snatched at the apparition only to grab fistfuls of nothingness. Traces of light and green flurries were stirred by the action and surround his empty hands. Painfully beautiful green eyes weakly gazed up at him before she vanished into thin air. She had literally slipped through his fingers.

.

.

.

"Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" Sora yelled breathlessly.

"The door has opened…" Riku answered darkly as he blankly stared at the velvet horizon before him.

The older boy did not remember walking back to his island. He did not know how he got here after _she_ disappeared, but he also knew that it no longer mattered...it was time.

"What?" the dumbfounded boy asked.

Riku inwardly cursed. Sora had always been clueless.

"The door has opened Sora!" he turned to face his shaken companion "Now we can go to the outside world!" Riku was tired of waiting.

This was a window of opportunity and he would be damned if he misses it. He did not even need or want the raft anymore.

"What are you talking about? We gotta find Kairi!" Sora insisted.

_Why does no one understand? How can they not get it?_

Riku was losing his patience with the spikey haired boy.

"Kairi is coming with us!" the silver-haired boy snapped and Sora's eyes widened then narrowed as he barred his teeth at him.

Riku knew he was being cold and he knew he should not blow off a matter as important as Kairi, but his priorities were suddenly different.

Sora was an idiot to think Kairi was still here. Even if she was, she would not be for long. Everyone would probably vanish like Cassy did.

"Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There is no turning back," a moment of hesitation struck his heart but it was snuffed out quickly by determination "but this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" he extended his hand to Sora as he used all of his being to will the door open.

"Riku..." Sora murmured with wide, fear-stricken eyes.

Riku could not help but notice the similarity to the look Cassandra had given him moments earlier. He sensed the darkness pooling at his feet but he did not flee from its embrace and continued to hold his hand out to his best friend. Velvet black tentacles wrapped, morphed, and conformed around his ankles then up his legs. The strips of darkness ripped and scraped at his skin as they began enveloping him. It hurt like nothing he had ever felt before, but he did not yield in any way.

The chocolate haired boy had reached his resolve and desperately tried to grab the hand that was outstretched for him. Riku made no effort to move towards his friend, he could only stand and accept the bitter, tormenting caresses of the darkness he had summoned. Paralysis set in as the darkness' prickly embrace intensified and tightened around his hips. The sting was no longer merely physical as he felt the darkness seeping into his skin and oozing in between his ribs and chest wall before it slithered into his lungs. The invasion was too much and Riku wanted to hack it out of his body, but coughing was impossible.

Sora continued to grapple for Riku's hand to no avail while Riku did nothing to aid him. Their fingertips almost grazed but the blackened young man only stared down his friend as the darkness surrounded him as well. Even though Sora was in the darkness with him Riku noticed the darkness did not touch or harm him. It did not lick, slither, or constrict his body as it did Riku's.

It was to his neck now. The gnawing blackness sucked invisible bruises across his throat all the way to the back of his neck. Finally, the agonizing prickling that covered every single centimeter of his body turned into a solicitous numbness that he immediately surrendered to. The wonderful sensation filled his lungs to the brim as he took the largest drag he could of the gloom that surrounded him. Euphoria consumed him in a way that would make any grown man moan aloud in absolute ecstasy.

As Riku reached his unearthly high, Sora collapsed away from the darkness. It was too much for him, as he broke free from the darkness and retreated back to the safety of light.

_Weak was_ the last thought that entered Riku's mind as his mysterious, dark lover finally eclipsed his eyes.

_**A/N: Thanks for reading! I know that this chapter had a lot of Cassandra point of view in it but I am trying to establish her character. Also in this universe Cassandra will be a big part of Riku's story so I feel that it is necessary that the readers kind of get a feel for her. Everything in this chapter has relevance even if it does not seem like it now. So keep in mind that she is a big part of this story as well but there will definitely be a lot more Riku later. If Riku seems out of character to anyone I would like to remind you that this is Kingdom Hearts Riku and he is drastically different from say Dream Drop Distance Riku and even Kingdom Hearts 2 Riku. This Riku is much darker and is in a darker place. I am not saying my Riku isn't out of character, but I just wanted to point where I am coming from. I will try to capture him as best I can. Also I know Cassandra and her family have out-of-place names and it if for a reason. I am trying to suggest that they are not from that world but from another culture entirely. FYI when you think of Greta try to picture someone like Nanny Cook from the cartoon 101 Dalmatians. She was kinda my inspiration for that character. Thanks again for reading!**_


	3. Stars and Boulevards

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or Disney or anyone else. They all belong to their original creators. In other words I do not own anything.

**Chapter 3 **

**Stars and Boulevards **

Mist sprinkled onto his sun kissed skin. The sound of hissing water invaded his ears as he groaned. He was crashing from his darkness induced high. Blue eyes opened gradually as he winced softly before quickly slamming them shut again. Riku blinked slowly but his vision blurred and he could not focus on his surroundings. Apparently this unnatural high could also give a nasty hangover. It was way too bright.

Again, he tried to permanently open his icy eyes. This time he was successful. The ground he lied on was freezing and displeasing to his skin causing his hand to twitch. His eyes traveled downward, he was on textured cobblestone. The hiss of water grew louder as he regained consciousness.

_Where am I? _

His head was _absolutely_ pounding, but Riku needed to get up. The disoriented boy staggered to his uncoordinated feet. A bowl of rising water was surrounding him. Deadly jagged rocks stabbed outward through the violet rising falls. Riku was shocked. He had never witnessed a waterfall rise before. The water eerily defied gravity and physics as it travels upward to the top of the abnormal encasement.

Before he investigated further it occurred to him that he was alone. Shock swelled and inflated his heart and he desperately looked all around him for any sign of his missing friends.

"Sora! Kairi!" he called as loud as he possibly could and his vocal chords stung from the exertion.

They were not there. As he sighed he held his head down in utter defeat, guilt consumed him and he instantly sobered. Why wasn't he more careful? What was wrong with him? He had gotten so caught up in just getting off the islands last night that he had completely forgotten how much he wanted his friends with him. Riku could not get his priorities straight...

_No, stop feeling sorry for yourself. You will just have to find them. _

Now that he had sobered, realization was washing over him. He had made it; he was actually in another world!

_Then why don't I feel better?_

It was almost an empty victory without his friends to share it with. This was not how he wanted it to be when he finally escaped from the islands. Riku was not exactly sure of how he wanted it to be, but he did know he didn't want this.

The young man turned to investigate the new world he had reached. Pieces crystalized pillars soared up into the air then levitated back down creating an unusual stairway to the ruins that rested atop the larger masses of terra. The architecture that remained was too deteriorated to be recognizable, but he did notice that an archway still remained closer to the top of the floating stairwell of crystalized, white slabs.

After seeing that there was literally nowhere to go but up he began his climb up the unusual landmasses and what was left of the world's architecture. As he ascended he noticed that some of the structures had faint traces of moss and plants on them. The floras were no longer living, but they still managed to stain the surface of what appeared to be former streets. Crumbling, gray columns and decaying bricks were sprayed across the larger chunks of the concrete covered land.

Upon reaching the archway he realized it was the most intact piece of structure he had seen. Beyond it laid a small diamond shaped pool that could not be more than ankle deep. The pool was probably once a beautiful fountained centerpiece within a garden. Now it was just a haunting and depressing symbol of what use to be.

Riku felt eyes on him and he stiffened.

"Are you the one I heard yelling?" a woman's cool velvety voice asked him as he heard the clinking sound of heels stabbing the surface of the rotting boulevard.

Suddenly he realized how careless and distracted he had been. Now that he thought about it he had sensed someone watching him since he had called for his absent companions.

Turning to face the voice that was much too soft and dreamy he saw a horned woman clad in black. Her slender, angular face was deceivingly gentle and covered in faint green colored skin. Menacing yellow eyes regarded him as her deep, rose red lips curved into a calculating sneer.

"Yeah," he finally had the courage to answer.

A collar outlined in purple stretched towards the horns atop her head. The cloak she wore would be completely black except for the purple that streaked along the seams of the garment, and the magenta that stained two triangles into the base of the flame like dress. The woman could almost pass for flames themselves the way her cascading sleeves flowed down her legs and how the train of the garment surged and slithered around her.

A black crow perched upon her shoulder and glared down at Riku with beady, pink-rimmed, tawny eyes. Her lean fingers with crimson fingernails slowly stroked the bird's oily, black feathers. The most unusual staff he had ever seen was grasped in her other hand. The scepter was almost as tall at the woman and possessed an orb that brought forth an unholy emerald glow as the top of the staff fanned out and curled underneath the ungodly sphere.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," she gave a toothy grin and Riku raised a silver brow.

_How am I a **pleasant** surprise? _

"Where am I?" he asked coolly as he crossed his arms over his sturdy chest.

"Why, the ruins of Hollow Bastion child," she answered him instantly her voice never losing is velvety stroke upon his ears.

"Ok, and who are you?" another question came from his lips.

"I am the mistress of the world before you. I am Maleficent," she retorted as if he should have known who she was.

Maleficent stopped stroking the black bird and rested her long chin on the freed appendage. A large dark green oval ring outlined in gold rested on her willowy middle finger, while the dark mistress was analyzing him.

"Since you know so much why don't you tell me how I got here," he challenged the woman clad in darkness.

"You should not waste your breath on questions you already know the answers to," Maleficent snapped gently.

Riku's eyes widened. She knew he was going to play her.

"You and I both know how you arrived here," she started, "so let us not play games, shall we?"

_Damn_.

Riku uncrossed his arms "I think I used darkness to come here…"

the young man realized how bizarre and stupid it sounded as the words rolled off his tongue, but something told him this woman might understand.

Maleficent smiled and her eyes softened.

"Did you hear that my pet?" she asked her flying companion as she grazed her ruby fingertip underneath its golden beak and made the bird face her, "he came all the way here by using the forces of darkness."

The blackened mistress sounded absolutely delighted.

She locked eyes with him and took an elegant step towards the intruder using her staff as a cane.

"What is your name boy?" she questioned.

Riku watched her with skeptical eyes.

"Come now, do not be shy," the witch took another stride forward.

"I am far from shy," the cold young man hissed "Riku, my name is Riku."

Upon saying his own name he realized she had tricked him. The wicked looking woman knew he was not shy. She must have known if she said he was he would grow irritated and answer out of spite.

_Clever. _

"Well Riku, I am impressed," she clutched the glowing orb of her scepter "many people have lost their worlds recently, but not one of them has managed to end up all the way here."

"How do you know I lost my world?" Riku hadn't even thought about what happened to his world.

"I know you are not of this world. I know many worlds have been losing their hearts. There are many people who are being orphaned by dying worlds and then they adopted by new ones. Clearly, you have been adopted by this one," The horned lady explained coolly.

Riku definitely didn't trust this woman, but she seemed to know a lot. Maybe she could help him. She was not someone to be trusted, but the eerie woman was all he had. No one else was there.

"My friends, are they on another world too?" he asked sincerely.

"Most likely but I doubt you will find them here. Like I stated earlier, no one makes it this far. You are the first I have seen who has arrived here from a dead world," the mistress revealed.

"Where do people usually end up?" he inquired.

"That is hard to say. It depends on the person and the location of the world they are from. Their hearts may also lure them to someone else from their world. One heart may follow another heart it is familiar with. But for the most part, it is about chance," she answered.

"Then how did I end up here?" Riku was pretty sure he already knew the answer but he wanted to see what she would say.

" Your darkness brought you here," Maleficent responded bluntly.

Riku's eyes widened upon hearing her call it _his _darkness. He knew that was probably true, but it did not make hearing it aloud any easier to swallow.

"You wish to find your friends," it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah," he answered simply as he stared at one of the crumbling columns to his right.

"I can help you locate them, but it may take time," she offered.

"You can travel to other worlds at will?" Riku found that hard to believe.

"Certainly. However, I am not planning on making any trips at the moment. I have business to attend to here. If you wish, you may stay at my castle until I decide to depart," the horned woman turned from him and began making her way up to the final stairwell before the falls peak.

She did not wait for him to answer. She did not have to. She knew he would follow.

_Kairi. _

His conscious screamed at him not to follow the woman clad in black flames. No good could come of it. He didn't need to follow this woman who had offered to help him, but she said she could help him find his friends. She could help him find Kairi. He did not answer the woman, but he followed her.

.

.

.

Emerald eyes opened and her perspective was again filled with stars. Some stars twinkled while some of them faded. The stars are falling and blinking out before her eyes. She groaned and rolled onto her side and curled into a compact ball. Cassandra wanted to go back to the comforts sleep or unconsciousness.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

W_ake up wake up_.

As she expected she was exactly where she was a few seconds ago. She was not in her big fluffy marshmallow like bed. She was not in her room. She was not home with her family. She was not on the sunny island with her friends. She was under a small outdoor table on a balcony attached to some kind of building. Cassandra was not sure how she got there…it was just where she woke up.

Honestly, she was not sure where she was and she was too afraid to look. Cassandra knew the truth. She remembered what had happened. Her home was gone and she was separated from her family. She cursed herself for leaving them.

_You left them for nothing. You should have stayed with them. You shouldn't have cared about what happened to Riku. You should have let him rot. _

But Kairi was gone too. She didn't just go after Riku. Cassy wanted to help both of her friends.

_But Riku was the only one that you found. _

"I hope you are happy," she cursed her silver haired friend "wherever you are…"

His words haunt her. He had asked her to go with him, but she just couldn't. Now she almost wished she had. She wouldn't be alone on this balcony if she had… Cassandra would be with Riku. But Riku scared her. Something had been wrong with him. He had been like a man possessed. The darkness around him had been overwhelming. It seeped from his tan skin and swirled around his feet. When he asked her to come with him she wasn't sure who wanted her, Riku or the darkness that surrounded him.

She couldn't go…she was too afraid. Afraid of Riku, his darkness, and the outside world he beckoned her to.

_But you ended up here anyway didn't you. _

Maybe that was why she was so afraid. She saw it coming. She had sensed the catastrophe that awaited them. Cassandra fought back the tears and tried to bury herself even further under the outdoor table.

Cassandra had been staring at the wooden door with a tree engraved on it for what seemed like hours, but she could not bring herself to get up and approach it. Getting up would feel too much like defeat. Getting up would mean that she has accepted the fact that she wasn't home and that she was lost. Sighing heavily she crawled out from under the table. She did not crawl far enough and slammed her head into the corner of the rounded table

"Ow!" she cried then quickly covered her mouth with both of her ivory hands.

The blonde girl had heard screaming coming from below the balcony earlier. Whatever was down there, she didn't want it to know she was up here. Glowing yellow eyes haunted her and she shivered. She could almost feel the icy grip of the _thing_ that grabbed her in the murky water.

_Are they here too?_

She didn't wait to find out and headed for the wooden door. Cassandra knocked and pressed her ear to the door. She heard nothing but the sound of the crickets that linger outside with her.

"Hello?" she knocked again but no one answered her.

The young girl decided no one was inhabiting the room attached to the balcony she was standing on and tried to open the door. The door squeaked as she barely applied pressure to it. Her head peaked around the corner and the yellow and green room was empty. Relief washed over her, and she entered the small room. It was a cozy little hotel room. Cassandra knew she hadn't paid for the room, but she needed somewhere to stay. Even if she wanted to pay for the room she had no munny to do so, buy lying on the comfy looking yellow bed would be much more pleasant than lying underneath a table outside.

_I won't stay long. _

Cassandra just could not bring herself to do anything dishonest.

She collapsed onto the bed and buried her face into the stuffy smelling pillow. The room had a stagnant smell and she assumed no one had stayed there in a long time. Cassandra spread across the bed on her stomach before squeezing her eyes tightly shut. She wanted to sleep, but she was not really tired anymore. More than anything she just needed somewhere to think.

_I should probably look for someone. Maybe they can help me. _

Weighing her options she figured she has two choices she could either lay on this bed, go crazy or she could try to find some help. Social interaction might help settle her nerves. Someone might even be able to help her find her family or she might even find her friends. Her eyes shoot open at the thought of finding her friends. That was all the motivation she needed.

Cassandra sat up and tucked her legs behind her. In hindsight, she was glad her mother had insisted she put on regular clothes. Now she understood why, running around in another world in nothing but a big white t-shirt would have been embarrassing…mother always knew best. Shaking the thought of her mother away she brought herself to her feet.

There were two doors in this room. One door was to her left and was topped with a big green clock.

_Weird. _

The other was directly in front of her and she suspected it was the way to the main desk.

_Might as well start there. _

Cassandra walked past the table in the center of the room and made her way to the door. She placed her hand on the cool doorknob and turned it. The instant she did she heard a commotion coming from the other side of the door. Cassandra impulsively opened the door and instantly regretted her decision to do so. A hooded man without feet and abnormally long arms loomed over a man who was crawling backwards away from the man who hovered in the air.

The wide-eyed human continued to back away from the creature. Meanwhile, a man further down the long hallway screamed and jumped behind the front desk and scurried into the door behind it. The cloak the creature wore was white, but darkness sprouted on its shoulders and cascaded down to its terrifying claws. A bizarre symbol was engraved into its back. Cassandra cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes at the unusual symbol. It was a black heart outlined in red with a barbed, crimson X crossing out the center of the heart.

Emerald eyes travelled back down to the monster's terrified victim. Cassandra wanted to help, but all she could do was stand there and helplessly watch. The being with the emblem on its back reached for the man's chest. An agonizing scream filled the hallway as the beast extended and curled its claws as if grabbing something within the palm of its hand. The man squirmed and writhed as if the creature had grasped something inside of him. He coughed and grabbed his chest. In one quick motion the phantom yanked the invisible thread and a bright shining heart emerged from the man's chest.

Cassandra recoiled and crashed into the vase at the end of the corridor. The young girl could not believe her eyes. That _thing _just took that man's heart! The heart floated between the man and the predator before levitating toward the predator. An inhuman hand extended palm up and the heart vanished into the palm of the savage monster. The eerie hand closed as if to secure the heart forever within grasp. The prey blinked a few times before collapsing onto his side.

Slowly, the floating abomination turned to locate the sound of the crashing vase. Blue-green eyes widened as she realized the creature was nothing but a cloak. No face, no body, no legs, no feet. Cassandra did not need to see its face to know it had seen her. She ran.

Blonde hair flew wildly as the girl charged through the double doors of the hotel. Jade eyes darted back and forth behind feral golden locks as her mind raced to see which way to go. Her eyes took in the intriguing scenery around her, but her mind could not take time to process the colorful luminescent lights, the quant store windows, or the massive buildings that enclose the area. She quickly decided to run to her left. Cassandra was positive she had never wanted to run any faster and she knew she had never run any slower in her entire life.

The terrified girl tripped up the slightly inclined steps and clawed the ground to regain her balance. She used her hands and her feet to climb the steps as if it would somehow make her move faster. Cassandra did not hear the beast footsteps following her, but she knew it is behind her. It did not have feet, but she could hear the thick flaps of the jagged, white garment that surround the faceless monster that cascaded fiercely against the wind.

She finally reached the top of the cobblestone stairs and crashed into the next set of double doors that had appeared before her. Cassandra ran into the peculiar room filled with bright colorful glowing lights and yellow wallpaper. Gizmos ticked, clicked, and beeped all around her but she could only hear the feral flapping of the garments demonic wings. A broom laid in the corner by the doors and she scrambled to it. Cassandra did her best to barricade the door with the broom by lodging it into the doors' door handles. It would not hold it off for long, but she needed all the time she can get.

Cassandra had no clue where she was going. This world was foreign and strange to her and she did not know where would end up. All she knew was that she could not stand still she had to keep moving. She examined the mechanical room and saw another set of double doors across the room and made a dash for them. Cassandra crashed into them but the doors gave and quickly retracted back towards her.

"NO!" she screamed frantically and pushed the doors even harder and pulled on the handles even though she knew they would not budge.

A loose chain bound the doors on the outside. She shoved the doors as hard as she could and painfully slid between the small crack that had been produced between the dual doors.

The golden-haired girl was back outside. It was a dead-end.

_No!_

A ladder was on the wall in front of her to her right, but it clearly could not be climbed. It looked unstable and it slanted at obscure angles. The ladder was worthless to her. The only other option she saw was jumping over the ledge to her right…

Crashing sounds came from inside the gizmo shop. She doubted the faceless monster needed to use doors and had busted through them merely to frighten her. Why else would a creature with no physical form or features other than a cloak need to use doors?

_You can stay and end up like that man or you can jump. _

She sprinted to the ledge and looked down. Sounds no longer come from this city. It was deserted. She did not even hear the sounds of crickets anymore. Cassandra had not heard them since the demon arrived.

_Did they sense it? _

The only sound that reached her ears was that of the buzzing of the multicolored city lights. Cool wind licked her porcelain skin and she shivered. Jumping from the rooftop would not be lethal, but she was sure it would hurt her. It was not a deadly height, but it definitely was not a height to be jumped from safely.

An eerie, unearthly howl gurgled behind the young girl. She quickly turned to look behind her. The beast was there. It watched her without eyes and she backed toward the ledge. Her heel grazed off the edge of the building top. Gasping she glanced down then glared back at the branded savage. It rushed towards her and she instinctively leapt from the rooftop.

It was taking much longer than she originally thought it would to collide with the ground. Wind whistled loudly, in her ears and her golden locks flew fiercely around her face and neck. She squeezed her blue-green eyes shut and waited for the impact. A hoarse ragged scream erupted from her lungs as she plummeted violently to the ground. Her right foot hit the ground first and her ankle gave and rolled awkwardly to the side. She yelped as the rest of her body smashed viciously into the deplorable cobblestone.

Instantly, she knew she had at least sprained her ankle if not broken it. She rolled onto her back and her chest heaved up and down as she waited for the pain that covered her body to subside. Air wheezed in and out of clenched teeth and Cassandra moaned softly between her last breaths before realizing she needed to open her tightly shut eyes.

Cassy was seeing double as she rose to her elbows and looked for the hooded phantom. Her shaky vision halted and no one stood on the ledge from which she had jumped. Panic filled her heart and she instantly stumbled to her aching ankles. Cassandra whimpered and limped to her right and headed down an alleyway. She was slower, much slower.

_Come on Cassandra! _

Hysteria was starting to overtake her.

_You are too slow! _

After what seemed like an eternity she reached the end of the alleyway and arrived at a new wooden door outlined in beautiful vibrant stain glass. She turned to see if the fiend was still after her.

_It's gone. _

Cassandra turned to face the door, but collided into a ghostly, bleached cloak. Her lungs burned with terror and she screamed then pushed aggressively at the cloak. How do you fight something that was not really there? The girl attempted to get the phantasm away from her so she could run in the opposite direction, but she did not create enough distance between herself and her attacker. It did not matter she tried to run anyway.

"Someone help me!" she pleaded desperately from scorching lungs before claws grabbed her arms and slung her into the nearest wall.

It tried to trap her against the stonewall, but the young girl was feisty. Although she was trapped she was far from defeated. Cassandra did everything humanly possible to try to shake the _thing _off of her.

She kicked, screamed, bit, scratched, squirmed, and jerked. With every movement the creature's claws dug, slashed, and shredded her ivory skin. Blood began to dribble down out of her wounds and seeped into her clothing. The claws leaft her torn flesh only to retract and strike her again with even more violently painful force. Each new blow hurt more than the last, but she kept trying to do absolutely everything she could think of doing to try to unnerve the aggressor.

_Maybe if I am too much trouble it will give up. _

The blonde girl was wrong.

The monster was losing its patience. Every move she made, made the phantom's assault even worse. She knew her blood was splattering the walls and pooling on the ground as it flooded from every pore of her damaged skin. The abundance of blood trickled down her porcelain legs, but she continued to fight. The demon was trying to wear her down just as she was trying to wear _it_ down.

Cassy was getting tired, but she refuses to give up. As if sensing her resolve the creature catapulted her into the wall on the opposite side of the alleyway. Ribs shattered and the breath was knocked out of the young girl's deflated lungs as she held her hand up to shield herself from the brutally, sharp claws she knew would start tearing into her flesh yet again.

_Stop. Make it stop. Please just make it stop… _

Bone splintered from her shattered ribs and spiked into her lungs as she began to cough chunks of blood out of her mouth.

The lacerations are deep, _too_ deep. Cassy could almost feel them in her bones. It was as if they are going inside of her. There was no method to the attack on her; it was as if it was trying to break her very spirit. The grim claws continued to hack away at her arms, her chest, her stomach, her sides…and her soul. The girl was sure her entire body was tinted scarlet from her blood. The wraith was tearing her apart. It was ripping her very insides apart…

The ghastly claws chipped away at her spirit, breaking her will. Cassandra felt her will to fight crumbling as it began slipping away. It was as if her being itself was fading, but she could not succumb to this…she couldn't. With the last bit of her strength she beat the demon's shoulders with her bloody fists. Cassy pounded at the physical apparition fiercely at first, but her blows gradually faded into tiny thuds on the beasts white body.

She grabbed fistfuls of the monster's pale cloak and weakly whimpered, "stop," from blood stained teeth.

The coppery taste of blood flooded her mouth. The girl had, had enough. At that moment she realized, the shredding of her body and her essence had stopped. Cassandra did not know when it ceased, but all that mattered was that it had. The hooded phantom released her, and she slid down the wall then slowly got onto all fours. Her mind told her the assault has stopped, but her entire being was screaming in absolute agony. Everything was hurting. Everything was stinging. _Everything... _

Cassandra coughed feebly and more blood seeped from her mouth and trickled down her chin as she began to attempting to crawl away from the emblem engraved ghost that had caused her harm. It watched her without eyes and levitated closely to its prey. It would not let her get far. Weakly, the bludgeoned girl sat upright and stared up at the haunting image before her.

She weakly raised an arm in front of her body to protect herself and she noticed the blood and gashes on her arm are disappearing and reappearing with every blink of her eyes. Was she hallucinating? Wasn't she bleeding? She was hurt. She knew that. The pain she felt was real? Wasn't it? It had to be…or was it? Her mind went wild with contradicting questions.

_What did you do to me!_

"Wh-what's ha-happ-en-ening?" she weakly asked a question she knew her ears would never hear the answer to.

The savage hovered as its ghastly, ragged cloak flaps unnaturally behind him. It pointed a mystifying black finger at the girl's chest. Cassandra backed away from the apparition a bit at a time. All of her strength was gone, but she could not stop trying to flee.

The being's other fingers expanded as if it was reaching for her. Cassandra saw a mirage of a darker more sinister translucent hand extending from the original hand of the monster. The illusionary, coal-black hand approached her and she weakly swatted at the illusion, but her palm passed right through the hallucination. The manifestation shuttered, but did not dissolve. Cassandra knew the hand was not a physical form like the phantom that summoned it, but somehow she knew it could harm her. If not physically, she was sure it could emotionally.

The apparition of an appalling hand closed in on her and floated ominously in front of her face. She backed away and it recoiled slightly before plunging down vigorously into her mouth. Her head automatically yanked backwards as the hand wretched and slithered down her tearing throat. The hand ripped though her esophagus and the muscles in her throat as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The illusionary appendage travelled downward deep down into her. It journeyed so deep into her essence she could no longer decipher where the mirage was going.

She stifled. Jade eyes hurtled open, but the girl could no longer move. It had found it. The hand backtracked out of her being and wriggled upward out of her mutilated throat. Her head lurched forward as the hand retracted and Cassandra gripped her chest as she suddenly felt a huge void forming within her. A bright blue-green floating orb the color of her eyes glistened and rested within the monster's claws. The abomination held the trophy he ripped from the girl for a split second before releasing it into the starry sky where it vanished from sight. All that remained of the orb was the dazzling, thick trail of sparkling green and white light the twinkling sphere had left in its wake. Swallowing hard, she blinked twice before tumbling violently forward onto the cold, hard street.

Morbid claws grabbed her shoulders and casually shifted her onto her back. The girl stared blankly into the empty hood of the faceless demon. The sinister beast held his hand over her torso and her chest began to illuminate as if a portal had opened. The girl arched her back abnormally as a shining bright red heart emerged from her breast and was quickly sucked into the waiting claws of the phantasm.

The phantom grasped the heart tightly and possessively to its vacant chest. It held the heart before it in admiration and traced a long ragged finger down the beating, severed heart. It brought the heart up to what would be his face and breathed in the glowing heart's very essence, the horror shuddered pleasurably from the sensation. The fiend clutched the heart tightly between both of its claws before the heart's throbbing, radiant light faded into its dark hands.

_**A/N: Thanks for reading! Oh yeah that's right Maleficent is here now! We are finally getting some conflict going on! I know it was kind of slow at first, but it had to be done. Some crap had to be established. Anyway in case you can't tell my Maleficent is not the Maleficent from KH. I have based her more on the Sleeping Beauty Maleficent. Personally, I never felt KH did the character justice. I digress. Heartless are also much more vicious and aggressive in this universe. And the Heartless that attacked Cassandra is an actual heartless from KH. If you want to see it just Google search phantom heartless final mix. I always like visuals with the fanfictions I read so I thought I would offer one. And for those of you not familiar with kingdom hearts Cassandra was in Traverse Town. **_


	4. Echoes, Silence, Attachment, and Loss

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or Disney or anyone else. They all belong to their original creators. In other words I do not own anything.

**Chapter 4**

**Echoes, Silence, Attachment, and Loss**

Maleficent's footsteps clinked and echoed off the stone floors and hard, cement walls as she guided the dark boy down narrow hallways of her extravagantly bizarre castle. It was a hodgepodge of chrome pipes and orange metal. Riku had questions, but he didn't dare ask the horned woman before him for answers.

"You may stay here if you wish," she broke the silence as she walked through one of the doors at the end of the much too long hallway.

Riku was not sure he could even find his way back out of this maze the woman had called a castle.

To Riku's utter surprise the room looked…normal. At least by this castles standards. The room was very dark. The floor was a deep green with tiny diamond designs engraved into its surface. The walls were plain and coated in navy blue paint. A bed sat vertically in the right corner. It had a standard, white pillow, dark yellow bed spread, and was mounted by a regular wooden headboard. Bright blue eyes wandered to the other side of the room. A traditional wooden desk sat in the corner opposite of the bed and a sizable bookshelf sat to its right.

"I shall summon you before I depart, but as I said before I have a few things to attend to here first. Enjoy your stay," she grinned devilishly at her visitor, but Riku did not smile back.

He was not sure what to make of her…hospitality. There was a catch. There had to be a catch. He just didn't have the courage to call her on it. Not yet. He wanted to feel her out a bit first.

She was charmed by his darkness. He knew that much. The way her eyes shone with intrigue when he told her he used dark powers to arrive at this world told him that. But why would it matter to her? Why would she care? What did she have to gain from helping him? A part of him wondered, but the other part simply did not care. If she wanted to use him she could as long as he too got what he wanted. Maleficent could help him find his friends, and right now that was his priority. The sinister woman was a means to an end. As long as it meant getting his friends back he did not care what the woman's agenda was.

Riku heard her footsteps retreating and he took the opportunity to wander around the room he would inhabit. The silver-haired boy walked to the bookshelf and glanced over its contents. The books appeared to all be about other worlds, darkness, light, souls, and hearts etc. None of the books had normal titles; some did not even have titles at all. Some simply looked like random pages of notes and reports.

Riku trekked toward the other side of the room to inspect his bed. Before he reached the bed something forcefully smashed into his turned back and the boy carelessly stumbled forward.

_'Someone help me!' _

"Hey!" Riku yelled as he spun around to address whatever had the nerve to bump into him.

No one was there… He knew he felt something, hell he even heard it!

"Hey! Come out!" he threatened.

_'Stop.' _

He heard it again.

Riku had seen many black monsters as he followed Maleficent through the castle to this room. None of them offered to harm him, but Riku knew those _things _were bad news. He was almost positive one of those things was what crashed into him.

The young man stormed into the hallway to find the beast that had rammed into his back, but nothing was there either.

'_Wh-what's ha-happ-en-ening?' _

A fierce tickling emerged in his chest and he coughed roughly to try to remove the discomfort that mounted in his sternum. The tingling spread outward; prickling across his chest and eventually covered his entire body. Riku fell harshly to his hands and knees as the alien sensation intensified and consumed his nerves and muscles.

"Fuck!" he huskily cursed from his rasping throat.

He clenched his heart with his black, gloved hand and shuddered violently as his body absorbed the foreign matter.

Suddenly, it was over. The sensation fled as quickly as it arrived. Icy eyes shot open and Riku was able to move again. The dryness in this throat gradually began its retreat and the intense tingling had left his nerves and muscles. All that remained was the feeling of warmth that radiated from his chest where the sensation first manifested.

"What the _hell _was that?" he rasped before clearing his scratchy throat.

He returned to his shaky feet and looked down at his chest, his arms, and his legs. Riku examined himself for any unusual signs, but found none. He appeared to be in one piece.

Was he having withdrawals? Was his body reacting to the darkness he recently got into contact with? Or was he going insane? He thought he had felt something. He thought he had heard someone. Then Riku had some kind of physical reaction to it. His heart thundered wildly and beads of sweat began to manifest on his forehead, but other than that Riku had no proof that anything had touched him.

_What have you done to yourself? _

_._

_._

_._

Maleficent slowly made her way down the underground waterway. She was in no hurry to hear news of her minions' failures. Instead she pondered the boy who had arrived at her castle as she traveled downward. He was a gamble, she knew that, but the pay off could be worth it. The boy was touched by the key, but that was just a bonus for he had also received the kiss of darkness. Controlling a potential keyblade master of light was one thing, but a dark keyblade master was another!

The light was useless to her, but she could manipulate darkness. It seeped from the boy's tainted heart. It was faint now, but Maleficent knew it would grow with time. His darkness was but a seedling now, but with a little time and nurturing she was sure she could grow a vast garden of gloomy shadows from the tiny seed. It begged for her nourishment and care and she shall provide.

The horned woman reached her destination and entered the dark, dank dungeon deep within the waterway. Her heartless scurried and crawled around her as she entered the doorway. Limp,macabre bodies of countless girls mutilated by the heartless lay around in massive heaps on the damp, mildewed dungeon floor. The heartless sniffed and scratched at the dreary bodies before eventually creeping to the next girl in the pile.

Maleficent's shadowed crow fluttered off her shoulder and perched itself on the candlestick that sat on the table in the center of the dungeon. The black bird's talons dug and tore into the dry candle wax as it positioned itself on its new perch.

She could tell by the way the heartless twitched and scampered across the floor frantically that they had not found another princess of heart. Maleficent groaned in disgust and slid elegantly into the chair that sat by the rounded table, her blackened gown rustling as she lowered herself to her seat. Looking for the maidens of the purest heart had taken much longer than she originally anticipated. The universe was working against her. It had a natural defense mechanism against the collection of such power.

There were always seven girls. Should one of the girls become contaminated by darkness she would no longer be considered pure and the cycle would shift and another girl would be chosen in her place.

Finding the girl was hard enough, but finding her unmarked by darkness was another. Her heartless could sense strong lights within humans, but the light wasn't always the pure light she was looking for. They could get close but sometimes the girl was not what was desired.

Finding the precise seven to open the door was even more challenging. It was like finding a code to a safe that had a code that constantly changes. Getting the right combination at the right time was critical. Even Maleficent struggled to know if a girl was the purest of the pure. She had to test them, examine them, and once they were acquired she had to make damn sure they do not become polluted by the darkness. Just because the girl seemed to be a match did not mean that she was. Maleficent had been mistaken before. Many times had she thought she had found the next girl, but came up empty-handed.

So far Maleficent only had three of the seven needed. She hated the process of going through these girls. Over half of them were worthless. The mistress began rubbing her temples in anticipation of the migraine she knew she would receive from the agonizing sorting process.

The phantom heartless emerged from a dark portal and approached her.

"Yes?" she asked calmly as she disconnected her fingertips from her temples.

The faceless heartless pointed to a petite blonde girl propped upright in the corner by herself away from the jumbled piles of discarded girls. The Phantom had been exceptionally useful when capturing hearts. It was vicious and did a good job of capturing even the most spirited of victims.

Phantom was used for the more…_challenging_ girls. The creature was capable of doing work simple Heartless like the Shadows could not. Just like humans each heartless was unique. Every heartless had different abilities and different benefits. Each breed had their own specialized field and task. Some worked better in numbers, some used brute strength, some were magic based, some were psychic, and others were a combination.

The Heartless Phantom was a psychic heartless, an illusionist. It could meddle with the minds and wills of its selected victims. The phantom also had some physical abilities, but it did not need them. If it could get inside someone else's head it did not need much strength. It could create the illusion of pain and of physical suffering when the only damage being done was upon the victim's spirit, will, mind, and soul. Which could be just as torturous if not more so than actual physical pain. The illusion unnerved its victims leaving them more vulnerable than they would normally be. Targets would become so distracted by the physical illusion they would not realize that their will to fight and their spirit were gradually being chipped away.

What Maleficent loved the most was its ability to rip apart and remove the soul. If an individual was spirited or stable, a heart could be difficult or even impossible to remove. Some hearts were more challenging to take than others. Phantom could take any heart.

Her jet black brow rose, as she looked at the blonde girl in the cobwebbed corner. Water dripped lazily from the ceiling and planted tiny splatters onto the concrete floor around the girl. Apparently the Heartless thought she was worth pointing out. She used her staff to rise to her heeled feet and advanced to the lifeless girl. She was pale, too pale. Clearly phantom had to use force to bring her here. Maleficent could not sense her essence. The girl was absolutely empty, simply a shell. There was nothing inside of her anymore. No soul and no heart. She smiled as she sensed the void within the human husk.

The girl was beautiful, which told her that this girl could be one of the maidens she has been looking for. The princesses of heart were usually sickeningly pretty. Maleficent scoffed at the maiden. Dark eyelashes brushed her once rosy cheeks. Her supple formerly pink lips fell in a straight lifeless line. Her long toned legs were tucked gracefully behind her and her thin arms dangled at her sides. Bright golden blonde hair cascaded to her shoulders and fell around her heart-shaped face. Her hair was mostly straight with faint waves giving it slight depth. She likely had natural curl in her hair that she probably brushed straight.

"Let me see it," she ordered her minion.

The cloaked monster summoned the heart in his palm and offered it to his liege. Maleficent examined the heart critically. The girl could be one of them. The horned mistress sensed the light within the small heart and could not feel any darkness blooming within it, but that did not mean the girl was completely pure. Maleficent would have to examine the heart further to be sure she was one of the seven. The witch brought the heart to the sphere of her staff where it vanished within the luminous olive colored orb.

Maleficent clutched her scepter and held it out before her. A green spiraling mirage was assembled just above the glowing globe of the scepter. The woman clad in black watched the scenes that unraveled from the staff's spheroid. Segments from the girl's memories played before her. The girl was vibrant, friendly, and high-spirited. It made Maleficent ill. Upon analyzing the girl's character Maleficent assumed that she was worth testing. She held much potential for being one of the purest of the pure.

"Take her to the chapel with the others," she instructed the fiend.

The girl must have been a struggle for the phantom to resort to breaking and eventually removing the girl's spirit.

"And put her in a capsule." Maleficent knew this girl would likely never wake from her lifeless slumber, but she still wanted the girl contained and away from the heartless or those possibly looking for her.

The phantasm lifted the eerily limp girl into his deadly, black arms and left the morbid dungeon.

"Dispose of the rest," she instructed the Defenders and Large Bodys. That dungeon was filled to capacity.

.

.

.

Riku was getting tired of waiting. There was only so much he could do in this room and he had resorted to reading. The books from the bookshelf were ridiculous. They spoke of the most absurd concepts. The books even held some information that Riku didn't even find possible. There were experiments on hearts, souls, and people. Theories on how people have strong connection to one another. Forced mergers of hearts, and thesis' on the pull of the heart and its corruption. Riku didn't believe hardly any of it. A heart was a heart. Nothing more.

When he was younger he used to have faith in such ludicrous possibilities. Riku's mother had raised him on it. His mother had encouraged him to be open-minded, to trust in the light and his heart. Life was full of many possibilities and he was taught to consider them and he used to…

'_Never underestimate the power of your heart Riku.' _

_'Have faith in the light, it will not betray you.'_

Sora had always accused him of saying 'really weird things sometimes.' But somewhere along the way he had lost his faith in the heart and its capabilities. His faith in the supernatural and the bizarre connections between people and their hearts had faded. Riku had stopped following his heart, or maybe he never _truly_ did. Maybe he had just more open to things before he grew up.

Riku was also pretty sure his father played a major role in his change of heart. His father had never believed in the things his mother did. Perhaps he did believe it, but found such information worthless. Riku's father was cold, close-minded, and perhaps even…_dark_, the exact opposite of his mother.

_Opposites attract I guess…_

'_You should stop telling the boy that kind of shit.' _

_'It is weak and childish and you should stop encouraging it.' _

Riku had also ended up just like him. As a child he had been more like his mother warm and caring and more open to the universe and its possibilities. Riku had faith that if someone simply believed and opened their heart they were capable of anything. However, as he aged his father became a bigger influence in his life and Riku had wanted to be like him. He had wanted his strength, his determination, and his resolve. More than anything Riku had wanted to be strong so he could protect the things that mattered to him and when Riku thought of strength he thought of his father.

His father was a fisherman like so many of the other men from the islands, and one of the things fishermen did in their spare time was spar or go rounds as they called it. It had become a tradition amongst the islanders. The men would carve their own wooden swords or any other weapon of their choosing to use in rounds or tournaments. Riku loved watching the matches and he _especially_ loved watching his father win.

When he was barely old enough he had begged his father to start teaching him how to fight like they did. His father reluctantly complied and began training him in the island custom. Riku loved it; he reveled in it. Eventually Riku influenced Sora to take up the custom at an exceptionally young age as well. The others did not start going rounds with them until much later. Sora and Riku had always loved practicing together and of course trying to beat one another. It became a competition that would only intensify with age.

His father would train them both, but of course his father was harder on him. Riku assumed it was either because he was his son or because he saw potential in him, probably a little of both.

'_Thinking such things will do you no good. Such nonsense is worthless.'_

_'Want to try that again? Maybe this time you can try not being completely pathetic.' _

_'Come on Riku, I thought you were stronger than that.'_

As Riku became more enveloped in the tradition and gaining strength he became more distanced from his mother and her ideals, but she never inhibited him. She was always supportive and she was always compliant with whatever he wanted to do. If she did not approve of what he was doing she never let on...

'_Your happiness is my happiness.'_

Maybe what he stopped believing in was actually the heart itself or maybe humanity…. Clearly he was still pretty accepting of the supernatural. His summoning of darkness proved that. _Obviously_ he believed he was capable of such a feat. Somehow Riku knew he could use darkness and he knew what it was capable of. He knew about the door to darkness, he knew his home was vanishing and he was _ok_ with it. So maybe even though he distanced himself from his mothers teachings he had always somewhat believed in them and held onto them somewhere deep inside of himself.

_You believe it. You just don't think its important or worth anything. It is weak. Stop it! You are thinking too much__**! **_He scolded himself finally putting an end to his mind's scattered, unraveling thoughts.

Riku released an unenthusiastic sigh and turned another worn page of the hand written book he had been delving in. The book was an experiment log; it was full of many experiments on humans and their hearts. The writer told of experiments done on strangers, friends, lovers, couples, family, and even acquaintances. Apparently the author wanted to be thorough…

The experiment that stood out to him was one between a man and his wife. The man's heart had been extracted but instead of vanishing, his heart had been drawn to the heart of his wife. Her heart had offered his severed heart sanctuary. Their hearts became one. After reading through these observations Riku had noticed a pattern. Relationships can drastically affect a hearts' reaction. Hearts were drawn to familiarity, they longed for that interaction. Once severed from their original vessel they choose the next best thing. For a reason unknown to him the experiment reminded of Sora and Kairi.

A pounding at his door pulled him out of his concentration.

"What?" he answered the knocking rudely.

One of the monsters opened the door and stood aside for Riku to exit the doorway. The silver-haired boy assumed he was being summoned for negotiations. The beast was clothed deep shades of blue armor and carried a massive shield with a mongrel's face upon it. Icy eyes evaluated the shield it looked…real. Riku could almost see it snarling. The master of the shield pointed down the hallway with one of his massive fingers.

"After you," Riku mocked.

Riku followed the shield wielder throughout the castle until they arrived at their destination. He had been guided to what looked like a morbid chapel that lay at the apex of this castle. Massive double doors that almost reached the towering ceiling blocked their advance.

The doors had colossal door handles and shimmering azure; turquoise, pink, and golden stain glass designs upon the doors' windows. Riku almost thought the windows were pleasing to the eye, but somehow the beautiful designs were tainted and exuded an ominous glow. The stain glass windows almost seemed like the doors' eyes and they were staring down at him with disdain and resentment. Frosty eyes traveled up the doors and Riku noticed the doors came to a sharp point at their pinnacle. The point of the doors almost reached the limitless ceiling.

Faint voices hummed beyond the massive door. Riku glanced at his strange, silent escort for instruction, but the possessor of the shield did nothing. It was as if the chaperone was waiting for something to end, or maybe it awaited permission to enter. Riku decided to wait for the fiend to make the first move for the doors.

The silver-haired boy waited impatiently outside the monumental doors. The castle had him on edge, more so than normal. Riku was always aware of his surroundings, but here he was down right anxious. All of his senses were heightened and he could not help but feel apprehensive.

His eyes took in every crack and detail of the quarters around him. Frosty eyes pierced through the dark corners of the room and his eyes recorded every design of the floor, each piece of the stain glass windows, and even the faint hairs that bristled along the shield's muzzle. He heard the rustling of the monsters that swarmed the castle. Armor clinked and rattled against their dark bodies, their antennae crackled and quivered, deadly wings flapped and beat at the fog that surrounded the world. Unknown smells invaded his nostrils and tickled up into his brain. Riku could even almost taste the castle's aura. His mouth watered for the ambience and his taste buds tingled for its sustenance. The young man could feel a presence in this castle enticing him. It felt…familiar, but Riku could not place the source of the familiarity.

"Enough," Riku heard Maleficent call sternly and suddenly the other muffled voices ceased.

Riku was stunned at how easy it had been for him to recognize her voice. Perhaps it was because he had never heard a voice quite like hers before, a voice that secreted elegance as well as menace.

The edgy young man crept closer to the door and placed his ear against the bitterly cold stone that formed the doors.

"The keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he that conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way he could prove quite useful."

Riku withdrew slowly from the entrance.

_Keyblade? Is she talking about me? _

He had heard enough so he decided to lean against one of the walls instead. His back compressed to the cool concrete wall and he crossed his arms as he loosely intersected his long legs in front of him.

After a few more moments the escort came back to life and pushed on the gargantuan doorway. For a moment Riku had been almost positive the monster had been petrified. The thing hadn't offered to move since it got close to those doors. The shield wielder held open the door and Riku assumed that meant it was ok for him to enter, so he did.

Maleficent stood drearily behind a glowing table that appeared to double as some sort of crystal ball. No images emerged from its flat surface although Riku was pretty sure that was the table's function. An unusual symbol that resembled the brands he had seen on the monsters in the castle was engraved onto the wall behind her. The symbol appeared to be made out of an odd bronze metal welded into the stoned wall. Bronze vines wriggled around and through the symbol and Riku thought for a moment that the vines were actually moving. His eyes attempted to examine the rest of the room, but his vision could not pierce through the thick darkness that enveloped the details of the black room.

"Come now, we have matters to discuss," the witch addressed him and Riku nodded to acknowledge his understanding.

"First we must talk about what you want. Your friends?" she questioned although she already knew the answer.

The enchantress clasped the ominous pulsating orb that sat atop her staff. Maleficent was quite sure this keyblade master was connected to the other keyblade master that was traveling with the _king's_ lackeys.

"You said you could help me find them," Riku reminded her as he continued approaching the table with false confidence.

The witch grasped her staff tightly with her long willowy fingers and the table that sat between her and the boy with silver hair began to glow.

"Behold, I believe you may know this young man," an image of Sora fighting beasts just like the ones Riku had seen around the castle with at key became visible on the table's surface.

_A key? Is that the keyblade she was talking about? So, she was talking about Sora. _

"Yeah, he is the one I'm looking for," Riku did not ask Maleficent about Kairi, he automatically assumed she was with Sora.

Jealousy briefly swirled in Riku's ice blue eyes as he watched his friend run around with the _keyblade _over his shoulders. The young man also didn't want Maleficent to know about Kairi, the less this old witch knew the better.

_If you find Sora you will find Kairi. _

"How did you know that?" he inquired, as he edged closer to the bizarre hologram that surfaced on the table.

"You underestimate me," was the woman clad in black's only response.

"In that case, where is he? And how do you plan on leaving this world? You still haven't explained to me how you can travel to other worlds at will," Riku continued to question the woman's supremacy.

Maleficent smirked mischievously before replying, "I cannot tell you where he is exactly, but I can tell you he is traveling. Physically finding him is your own affair, however I shall provide you with the knowledge to do so."

Riku rolled his chilly eyes "alright how do I go about finding him."

The horned witch strolled around the illuminated table toward him. Riku stiffened and backed away cautiously. "You will use your darkness, the same darkness that brought you here. That darkness will be your portal into other worlds."

The pale blue-eyed boy did not know what to make of that. Maleficent clearly used that method to travel, but Riku could not control his darkness the first time he had used it. He did not even know if he _could _use it again.

"But you must not abuse the power. Relying too heavily on these powers could cost you your heart or even your life. You must find a balance and you _cannot _be irresponsible," the dark mistress pierces the sharp end of her scepter into the stone floor for emphasis and Riku could not help but slightly flinch at the sound that echoed off the walls from the violent impact.

"A balance?" he legitimately asked as he tried to regain his confidence after flinching.

"Yes, between your darkness and your humanity. Darkness can easily flood your heart should you become too dependent upon it." the black witch clarified.

Riku's eyes fell to the ebony floor as he considered this.

"Fear not, the darkness can be used but one should not let it burn too fiercely. You must keep your sanity. Remember, _you _must wield the darkness the darkness should not wield _you. _Many have failed to tell the difference. Those people are also no longer around today to warn you of the dangers of not knowing the difference," the enchantress warned him as her crow emerged from the blackness of the room and perched upon the apex her staff.

The concept seemed simple enough and Riku had to admit, all this intrigued him. It intrigued him _much_ more than it should. Riku knew he was playing with fire, he knew the dangers of all this. Everyone always talked about the wonders of light and the curses of darkness. Darkness was bad, and light was good.

"Show me how to use it," he insisted as he repressed a smirk.

.

.

.

Maleficent had agreed to accompany Riku on his first few ventures to other worlds. Riku had managed to arrive at another world on his first attempt. His dark guardian had been pleased to say the least. With the witch's help the silver-haired boy had warped into a world by the name of Miranda.

Miranda was an average sized town surrounded by a lush, green forest. Cottage like houses and stores filled the bustling city. Stairways with wooden banisters greeted visitors as the forest ended and guide the townspeople up into the town. Vibrant flower baskets rest upon the windowsills of the homes and shops of the city. The elevated town held many stairwells and walkways that wind and twist around and through the city's homey architecture. Although the world had an urban setting many shrubs, flora, and trees lined the sidewalks, stairways, and simple buildings.

Riku assumed that was as good a place as any to begin his search for Sora and Kairi. Maleficent had claimed she had business to attend to there. The enchantress did not tell Riku what she had to do, but Riku did not really care he just needed to find his friends.

Riku and Maleficent went their separate ways and the blue-eyed boy commenced his search of the area. This world was relatively simple, but Riku still enjoyed the new terrain. Children's laughter reached his ears as he turned a corner after emerging from a random shop. A small group of about seven children tittered and chased one another through the narrow building corridors. There was no method to their game, they were just frolicking together and making up the rules as they went. Riku watched the children with sorrow filled eyes and he could not help but find the way they played together painfully familiar. Sora, Riku, and Kairi used to play that way.

One of the kids slowly spun around and looked at him. She had bright golden chin length hair and big, turquoise eyes. The young girl smiled brilliantly at him as her wavy locks tickled her porcelain skin and Riku half grinned at the small girl.

Taking his _almost_ smile as an invitation the girl skipped toward him.

The tiny girl grabbed his forearm and tugged him in the direction of the other children.

"Come play with me!" she begged through shining eyes filled with hope and optimism.

"I…I can't" Riku answered as he tried to pull his arm away from the pleading girl.

Her bright eyes fell.

"Oh…why not?" she asked him sincerely as she reluctantly released his arm from her gentle grip.

"I am looking for my friends. Maybe you can help me," Riku had no idea why he was caving for this little girl...

_What is wrong with you? Why do you care if this girl is sad? _

"I can try!" the petite girl chirped before she ran off down one of the building alleyways.

Riku sprinted after the child. Her playful giggles bounced of the gray circular cobblestone and the cream-colored wooden walls of the town's establishments.

"Wait! I didn't even tell you who I am looking for!" the silver-haired boy yelled after the cheerful girl.

A snarl erupted from his throat as he attempted to increase his speed in order to catch up with the child.

_Damn she is fast! _

Riku quickly ran up the wooden stairway and circled around the next building corner in the maze the alleyways had created, and almost crashed into a towering chocolate-colored brick wall.

_What! _

Riku was at a dead-end and the girl was gone.

"Hey!" he shouted for her.

_Where did she go? _

"Stupid kid," he cursed her under his breath before heading back to the busy town square.

.

.

.

The silver-haired boy had talked to almost every store owner in this simple town and none of them had seen Sora or Kairi.

_They aren't here. _

Riku decided to accept defeat and made his way to one of the benches that sat at the storefront. The defeated young man cut through the building corners and carelessly walked through colorful flowerbeds not caring that he was leaving trampled, crumpled flowers in his wake. Riku slumped heavily onto the bench and gloved hands ran through his long hair. Riku lowered his head dejectedly and proceeded to hold his head in his hands.

_This could take a while. _

Giggling teased and invaded his ears and his head quickly wretched up.

_That girl._

The blonde child was peering around a store corner at him. Flowers on the store windowsill almost covering her angelic face. She playfully chuckled into her teeny hands before vanishing behind the building. Riku immediately jumped up and pursued after her.

"Hey! Where did you go?" Riku asked as the girl turned weightlessly on her heel to face him.

"No where," she answered impishly, holding her hands playfully behind her.

Riku raised a silver brow at the peculiar child. The girl twinkled warmly at him before her gaze shifted behind him. A feeble gasp escaped her mouth and she scampered down the alleyway again. Riku continued to shadow her.

"What are you doing? What is your deal?" at this point Riku was only following her out of pure curiosity.

"Shh," she hushed him as she held her ivory index finger to her pink lips.

"She will hear you," she whispered as she peaked around on of the garbage cans she had suddenly nestled herself behind.

"Who will hear me?" Riku mocked her as he placed his hands on his hips in annoyance and rolled his frosty eyes.

"The bad lady," the unconventional child replied as she emerged from her hiding place to approach him. The girl grabbed his banded wrist and looked up at him.

"Riku, don't let her take me," she pleaded as he felt both her hands snake around his wrist.

"What!" Riku yelped and jerked away from the small girl's warm touch.

The silver-haired young man heard Maleficent calling for him in the distance. Riku turned to face the direction the voice was coming from.

The girl trembled and hid behind Riku. She embraced his arm and laced her fingers with his. Her little hand melded into his larger one and her rosy cheek grazed the chilled skin of his forearm. Riku looked back at the blonde girl…she suddenly seemed vaguely familiar...

"She wants my heart Riku…don't let her take my heart," begged as she used Riku to shield her from the horned woman who was approaching them.

"Any luck?" Maleficent questioned him earnestly as soon as she reached him.

"No I wasn't able to find him," Riku responded as he tried to squeeze the frightened child's hand, but he could no longer feel her.

_Huh?_

The witch surveyed the space behind him in the area where the girl once stood holding his arm. Riku swiftly glanced over his shoulder for the girl.

_Shit she sees her_ his mind panicked, he did not know how the girl would react to Maleficent noticing her, but she was gone.

Icy blue eyes dashed back and forth all over the alleyway in search of the blonde girl, but there was not a trace of her.

Maleficent watched him with skeptical, yellow eyes and Riku knew that she did not see the mystical girl who was just with him.

_Who was she? _

He brought his hand to his face and inspected his arm. His arm still tingled from her snug touch. Riku could feel where her tiny hands had once caressed his wrist and where her fingers had intertwined with his…but the mysterious girl was gone.

Then it hit him…_that girl called me Riku…_he had _never _offered that girl his name…

**_A/N: All I have to say is I hope you guys had more fun reading this chapter than I had writing it! Sorry it took me a while to update, but like I said this chapter was difficult to write. The heartless that escorted Riku to Maleficent was the Defender heartless from kh and you can look him up if you don't know what he looks like or if you just want to. Thanks for reading! _**


	5. To Hell with Good Intentions

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Disney or anyone else. They all belong to their original creators. In other words I do not own anything.

**Chapter 5**

**To Hell with Good Intentions **

Riku silently followed Maleficent out of the town of Miranda in an absolute daze. His feet were moving through the leaves of the forest floor with a mind of their own. The young man could not stop thinking about the strange, disappearing girl. Not only was she bizarre, but also familiar to him. It was impossible. Riku had never been off the islands before, how could he have known the child from Miranda? Better yet, how did she know him?

Rustling resonates behind one of the bushes in the vast forest the duo marches through. Riku did not hear the noise until a black being with piercing yellow eyes launched out of the bush toward him. His black pupils dilate as he plummeted to his back. Instinctively, Riku extended his hand before him, clenched his eyes shut and waited for the yellow-eyed monster to crash into him.

The silver-haired boy felt his hand sting before his hand was filled with a foreign object. A frosty eye cracked open and Riku watched the dark beast desperately claw at his body only to come up short. A demonic sword had manifested in Riku's gloved palm and it inhibited the fiend from ripping apart his flesh. The alien sword was pressed horizontally against the dark beings chest. Pieces of broken darkness shattered around the sword as a dark cloud that spat red and purple sparks around his hand slowly dissolved. Riku winced lightly before taking a firmer hold on the sword's hilt.

Riku's chest heaved as he continued trying to stop the creature's advance. He brought himself to one knee before placing his other hand against the tip of the sword. Riku planted his other foot firmly into the forest foliage and used his momentum to slash the monsters chest and shove the thing off of him.

The beast screeched at it was thrown through the air and into a nearby tree. Leaves dispersed and went in all directions as the dark body landed onto the hard ground. Subconsciously, Riku went into his fight stance by bringing the sword overhead and pointing it in the direction of the enemy as he held his free hand in front of him for balance and protection.

The savage clumsily brought itself to its feet as it prepped itself for its next attack. Its long, jagged antennae fanned out behind its rounded head and traveled down its back all the way to the green ground. Purple, bulbous veins and arteries pulsated and bulged throughout its stained black body. The creature slouched and held its lengthy and lanky arms at unnatural angles. Its hands twitched and shuttered for his skin. They wished to rip him apart, to tear the flesh of his skin, to pry open each of his ribs one by one, and to finally consume the heart that beats within his chest.

"Try and catch me off guard now you bastard!" Riku threatened as he used his free hand to taunt the monster.

His hand curled upward and he waved for the beast to come at him. The shadowed creature hurtled at him and Riku instantly impaled the creature with the winged blade. The sword went all the way through the fiend. Black blood spurted from the demon's chest as it convulsed and shuddered against the blade that went through it.

It grasped and clawed at the sword hilt and at Riku's hands as it desperately tried to remove itself from its deadly roost. More of the savage's blood seeped from the wound and oozed down the hilt of the sword to Riku's gloved hands then to his wrists and finally up his forearms.

Riku extended one his arms and held the harpooned being up even higher in the air to ensure the beast stayed on the spike until it died. Blank, emotionless eyes watched the monster squirm and shriek a few more times before the impaled body went limp.

The convulsing and screeching came to an abrupt halt and Riku knew the fiend was finally dead. The silver-haired boy scoffed at his dead opponent before violently slinging the flaccid body off of his new weapon. Limbs crumbled lifelessly around the corpse before darkness started consuming the body. Blackness devoured the carcass before the being vanished.

The blue-eyed young man began propelling the dark blood off of his hands and arms onto the vibrant foliage.

"Why didn't you help me?" he roared as he rushed at his silent traveling companion.

"It did not appear to me that you required my assistance," Maleficent answered simply as Riku continued wiping the ebony blood off of his arms.

Riku seethed through clenched teeth as he glared daggers at the dark witch. His hands clasped together tightly and he suddenly remembered the weapon he was wielding. With tentative movements Riku held the sword out before him with both hands.

The sword resembled a deadly, demon wing. Its barbed black edges fanned out from the bottom of a blood-red wing. A bright blue cat's eye stared menacingly up at him from the top of the blade's hilt. The hilt spiked at its tip and a large spike curved downward at the top of the wing. Riku had never seen such vicious edges on a sword in his life.

"Why did that thing come after me? You have a castle full of the damned things and not once did one of them offer to attack me!" Riku continued to bellow as he vigorously pointed to where the monsters remains use to lie.

He was fuming.

"The Heartless in my castle are under my control. I instructed the Heartless from my world to not harm you. The Neoshadow that just attacked you was not under _my _control," she calmly explained despite having Riku yelling at her.

Riku exhaled sharply through his nose as he tried to calm himself down.

"So those things are called Heartless?" he asked as his voice began to regain its normal tone.

"Yes, the creatures from my castle as well as the one that just attacked you are Heartless," she answered nonchalantly as she turned from him and began walking deeper into the woods.

"What are they?" he asked as he too began to march deeper into the wood.

"Those without hearts," she replied as she finally opened a dark portal for them to pass through.

That was not the answer Riku had been looking for, but he assumed that it would do for now. She would likely explain more to him later.

Before following the dark enchantress through the dark gateway he looked at the sword he had wielded effortlessly as if he had always commanded the blade. The sword looked vicious and threatening…like an eater of souls…that's what he would call it Soul Eater.

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_She squealed each time he almost caught her, but Riku could never quite get close enough to her to actually catch her. Cassandra was __**really**__ fast and __**way**__ too flexible. The small girl would giggle at each of his failed attempts. He had been laughing too at first but he was starting to get irritated. _

"_It's not funny!" he groaned in frustration as he lost his balance after almost catching her. _

_She had changed directions flawlessly causing Riku to fall face first into grainy white sand. _

_The young girl tittered wildly. _

_"Uh oh! Are you alright?" she asked as she knelt down beside him in the bleached sand. _

_Riku spat a mouthful of moist sand out of his now mud filled mouth. _

_"No!" he snapped at her before spitting again. _

_The only thing Riku possibly hated more than losing was being embarrassed. _

_The fun was over. Cassandra held her head down. _

_"I'm sorry," she gently apologized as her dazzling eyes fell and she elegantly placed her tiny hands in her lap. _

"_Riku that was not very nice," Renee, chided her young son from the beach blanket she sat on close to the white fence that separated the village from the beach. _

_Riku pouted and hesitantly looked at Cassandra. He had hurt her feelings. Her spiral, child-like curls swayed around her face as the ocean breeze lapped all over her. _

_"Its ok…" Riku caved, he could never stand seeing her sad. _

_The blonde child's eyes instantly lifted and she smiled radiantly at him. It had always amazed him how little it took to make her feel better. _

_"Hmmm, I guess I can forgive you," she teased as she stood up gracefully._

_Riku's eyes traveled up her tiny legs to her face. Cassandra was suddenly not a little girl with short, spiraling curls anymore. The person that was before him was a teenage girl. Riku looked down at his hands. While he had been chasing her he had just been wearing oversized blue and yellow wristbands. Now his hands were clad in black, short gloves with matching wristbands. _

"_Cassandra?" he questioned her as he got to his feet. _

_Her eyes were distant and blank. He outstretched a hand to touch her shoulder, but she became translucent and his hand passed right through her. _

_**Why can't I ever catch her? **_

_The silver-haired young man tried again only to have his hands fill with nothingness. He became frantic. He continued to grasp at her only to have her slip right through his fingers. _

_"Stop it!" he cried as he continued grappling at the illusionary girl. _

"_I'm sorry," she barely whispered as shaky, unfocused emerald eyes bore into his pale sapphire ones. _

_Cassandra's breath caught in her throat as she collapsed to her knees. _

"_Cassandra!" Riku knelt down and tried to catch her in order stop her from falling, but he could not help her…_

_Suddenly the blonde girl was covered in blood. Crimson fluid covered her ivory skin. The blood even stained the strands of her golden hair. The blood splattered girl hacked up chunks of blood before crumpling up at Riku's feet. _

_As he reached down for her Riku noticed that he too was smothered in blood…coal black blood…the blood latched onto his skin and spread up his entire body like a disease. No, he was turning into it…his skin became coated black and Riku began to panic. _

_The boy coated in darkness ran to the ocean to attempt to get the blackness off of his skin. He plummeted into the water and began slinging the water all over his body, but the darkness did not give. Riku scratched at the caked up darkness and dug his nails into his skin until he realized…the darkness __**was**__ his skin. He submerged his entire body into the salty abyss before rising from the water and staring at the morphed reflection he cast into the water. _

_His hair was black, he had no mouth, his entire body was cloaked in a permanent coat of darkness, but his eyes were still an icy blue. As he blinked his eyes in the reflection changed…they turned dark blue…then a rusty orange…then gold…then yellow…finally his pupils disappeared…his eyes had turned completely yellow…_

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Riku plunged into the hard floor of the room Maleficent had offered him. His eyes ripped open and he violently shoved the suffocating yellow blanked he had pulled into the floor with him off of his sweat covered body.

The silver-haired boy rolled onto his hands and knees and dry heaved onto the pea green floor tiles. Riku gagged a few more times before finally sitting upright onto his knees. Bright azure eyes took in his surroundings as he breathed shakily and heavily.

Frantically Riku extended his bare arms out in front of him. His skin still had its normal pigment. He then hesitantly touched his unclothed chest and his hands came into contact with normal smooth skin. His eyes followed his hands lead and he carefully examined his naked torso. Darkness did not coat his skin. The black gunk was not forever plastered upon his skin. Riku proceeded to touch his face and he did not feel black scales upon his cheeks or his forehead. He was…normal.

_Fuck I wish this room had a mirror,_ he thought to himself as he looked around the room for something that would cast a reflection.

Riku brought his legs out from under him and sat on the chilly floor. He rested his elbows on his bent knees as he grabbed fistfuls of his long silver locks.

The dream felt real, too real.

_Because the first half of the dream was from memory._

Riku closed his eyes tightly as he tried to will the haunting imagery away.

_It wasn't real. It wasn't real. You are ok. _

Riku could remember that day. Cassandra had not been on the islands long and his mother had taken them to the beach closest to the village. They were not old enough to go out to their island yet. As children Riku and Cassandra always loved playing tag, but when Riku played with Cassandra he was always it because he could never catch her.

_Ok so maybe it was more chase than tag._

She was much too nimble and light on her feet. Riku could outrun everyone except her.

_Cassandra…the strange girl from Miranda reminded him of Cassandra… _

It had been so long since he had thought about how she looked as a child that it did not occur to him right away like it should have. Plus he had been so preoccupied with finding Sora and Kairi he had not even thought of the blonde girl much less a child being her doppelgänger. The more he thought about it the more he thought Cassandra had looked just like the perplexing girl as a child.

_Maybe that was where Cassandra was from. Perhaps her home world was Miranda and that girl is related to her. That has to be it. Why else would I be seeing a girl practically identical to a young Cass? _

Frosty eyes finally decided to open as Riku released his hair from the death grip his hands had on it. He lazily lifted his head and peered over at the bed he had destroyed during his nightmare. The silver-haired young man reluctantly stood up and gathered the disheveled bedspreads and sheets and tossed them back onto the disordered bed.

Riku seriously doubted he could get back to sleep after all that, but he guessed he would attempt to anyway. He lied back onto the bed and pulled the jumbled mass of covers over his body. Rolling onto his stomach he buried his face into the pillow on the bed.

_Maybe if I suffocate myself it will keep the nightmares away…_

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.

.

Riku was _really _starting to lose his patience.

"You said you could help me find my friends," Riku complained as he and Maleficent made their way across the creamy cobblestone of the new world they had entered.

"I also said it could take time," she countered as they passed in between the two crooked street lamps that stood in the center the town's first district.

Riku exhaled sharply through his nose as he crossed his arms.

"This is the fourth world we have been to. I am starting to think you don't know what you are talking about," he hissed as he stopped his advance.

"This world is different," Maleficent argued as she too stopped walking, "The boy has been here before. He has gained companions here. I am quite confident he shall return."

"Whatever you say," Riku scoffed as he trudged past her and began walking up the rounded stairs toward the accessory shop.

"Beware, your friend may have already replaced you by the time you are able find him," she heeded him as he continued walking away from her.

Riku was ready to find Sora so he could be done with the old hag.

"He is here somewhere. I can sense him. If you no longer require my assistance then I best be on my way," she said as Riku sighed heavily and stopped halfway up the stairs to listen to her.

"Fine, whatever," he taunted before attempting to climb the stairs yet again.

"But if what I told you is true, you know where to find me," the eerie witch reminded him with a devilish smile on her ruby red lips before she vanished.

Riku whirled around sharply to address the sinister woman, but she was gone.

_Good, h_e scoffed to himself as he made his way around the accessory shop.

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The young man with pale cobalt eyes took his time while looking around the town Maleficent had called Transverse Town. Before arriving she had explained to him that many castaways from other worlds often ended up at this world. It was a good place for people with nowhere else to go.

_The old witch better be right about Sora being here_, Riku was getting tired of all the searching.

Riku finally reached the third and final district of the town and there was still no sign of Sora. The young male began thinking of ways to cause the enchantress bodily harm for misleading him. Riku slowly made his way down the stone stairs and he heard faint voices.

He quickly followed the distant sound of voices and rushed to the center of the third district. It was Sora. Riku felt joy within his heart for the first time in days. Excitement rushed through his veins as he sprinted toward his life long friend.

As Riku closed in on Sora, two Soldier Heartless sprouted from the ground between them.

_No! I have gone through too much trouble to find him! GET OUT OF MY WAY! _

Riku summoned Soul Eater to his palm and savagely slashed through the Heartless before Sora even had time to react with his keyblade. The dark beings shattered and the two hearts left behind quickly levitated to the starry sky. Sora's dark azure eyes went wide.

The confident male slashed Soul Eater through the air between them.

"There you are. What's going on?" Riku asked as he actually smiled at his bewildered friend.

"Riku," Sora called joyfully and awkwardly lurched toward him before he clumsily stuck his thumbs into Riku's mouth and stretched his cheeks.

_Really Sora? _

"Hey, hey! Cut it out," Riku genuinely chuckled lightly as he lifted his arm to brush Sora's hands out of his mouth.

Riku smiled at Sora again once he had regained control of his mouth.

"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" Sora asked, his voice full of disbelief and elation, as he looked Riku up and down skeptically.

"I hope not. It took forever to find you," Riku stated as he ran a hand through his silvery hair, attempting to fix it after Sora violated him.

"Riku!" Sora called in absolute triumph as he closed his eyes in order to smile even bigger.

Riku had to smirk at how absolutely happy Sora was to see him.

If Riku was honest with himself he was delighted to see Sora too, but he would never actually admit it to anyone but himself.

After their reunion Riku turned to make his way back towards the first district.

"Wait a second, where is Kairi?" Sora asked abruptly.

Riku's heart sank to the pit of his stomach.

"Isn't she with you?" he countered and turned around swiftly as his eyes enlarged.

Sora did not answer. The chocolate haired boy simply held his head down in utter defeat. He looked heartbroken.

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island too," Riku said much too calmly as he tried to lift Sora's spirits.

The older boy walked past his companion to examine the district a bit more. He looked back at Sora once he realized the forlorn friend was not going to reply.

Riku decided to change the subject.

"We're finally free," he stated as he lifted his arms toward the sky and gazed up into the limitless heavens.

"Hey, she might even be looking for us now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this..." Riku's prep talk was cut short as he heard the sound of metal colliding with something solid.

Alarmed, Riku swiftly spun around to address the noise. The silver-haired boy watched in astonishment as Sora held his swing after attacking a Heartless. It was a clean-cut. Riku could not help but notice how much _cleaner_ Sora's assault was. Soul Eater was _a lot _messier…

_Why do these heartless keep targeting me? Do I smell good or something?_

Riku tilted his head and continued glaring at Sora's back.

_That's right. The key…sword? Ugh what was it that Maleficent called it? _

"Leave it to who?" Sora teased as he arrogantly rested the unique weapon on his shoulder.

"Sora…what did you?" he inquired as he approached the spiky haired boy.

"_I've _been looking for you and Kairi too, with their help," Sora emphasized as he glanced at his companions.

Sora's companions silently nodded in agreement.

Riku had not even noticed the circus freaks that stood at Sora's side. Riku was not impressed.

"Who are they?" he asked bitterly as he shot the fools a quick glance.

The fowl cleared its throat "My name is…"

"We've visited so many places and worlds looking for you," Sora interrupted the feathered idiot's introduction.

Riku did not miss that Sora completely avoided the question he had just asked. Irritation began to brew within him.

"Really?" Riku snapped sarcastically as he cocked is head subtly in annoyance, "well what do you know. I never would have guessed."

"Oh and guess what? Sora is the keyblade master!" the one with buckteeth chimed in.

"Who would have thought it," the little one smarted off as it crossed its arms and began tapping its webbed foot.

"What's that mean?" Sora bristled as he quickly leaned forward so he could be at eye level with his _feathered friend. _

While Sora glared at his small comrade Riku took the opportunity to snatch the keyblade away from Sora.

"So, this is called a keyblade?" Riku remarked as he held the unconventional weapon out in front of him.

"Huh? Hey! Give it back!" Sora complained as he lunged at Riku to retrieve his keyblade.

Riku anticipated Sora's assault and smoothly leapt backwards just enough to throw Sora off-balance. The bright keyblade master fought gravity and resisted falling while barely balancing himself on one foot. Sora flailed his arms wildly before gravity was victorious and Sora nose dived onto the concrete.

Wintery blue eyes inspected the keyblade as Riku held the keyblade out horizontally over his head. It was simply an oversized key with a silver body and golden hilt.

_Nothing special,_ Riku huffed to himself.

"Catch," he said flatly before carelessly tossing the weapon back to its original owner.

Riku honestly didn't care if Sora caught it or not.

"Whoa!" Sora cried as he carefully secured the keyblade within his hands.

"Ok, so you're coming with us right? We've got this _awesome_ rocket! Wait until you see it!" Sora bragged.

"No, he can't come," the smallest moron argued.

"What!" Sora complained as he leaned down towards his new friend.

"Forget it!" the bird countered with an obnoxiously squeaky voice.

Riku had seen _and _heard enough. He slipped away into a weak dark portal while the idiots argued. The gateway was weak enough to not be sensed or seen but strong enough to teleport him to the other side of the district he had been eyeballing while Sora yelled at one of his new chums.

He emerged from the darkness by the crackling exposed electrical pipe by a high wall. Riku compressed himself against the towering wall that covered a tunnel like walkway that circled behind the fountain in the third district. Bright, sky blue eyes glowed in the darkness and fixated on the ground before him as he continued listening to the argument between Sora and the challenger.

"Oh come on he is my friend!" Sora kept begging.

"I don't care," the stubborn little crony was not budging.

"He's gone," the goofy looking member finally noticed.

_Great the moron among morons is the one that noticed I left. Thanks Sora. _

"Riku?" he heard Sora casually call.

"Nice going," The spiky haired boy berated the one that had been arguing with him.

"Oh well at least he is ok," Sora continued, "and who knows maybe we will run into Kairi soon too!"

Riku was absolutely _fuming. _The witch had been right…His fists clenched into tight painful balls as he continued listening to the trio talk. Riku could feel his hands getting hotter. He could almost feel flames forming in his palms. Were flames forming in his palms?

The dark male looked down at his fists and blackened blue flames ignited from his knuckles. Riku got angrier and the unholy glow burned brighter.

_How could just he replace me? How could he replace __**us! **How could he be so nonchalant about all this? _

The pale blue inferno intensified as his jealousy and rage grew. Riku softly hissed as the burning sensation slithered up the veins in his wrists.

_After all I went through for him and this is the thanks I get? Kairi isn't even with him! Fine I see how it is. I see how much we mean to you. We don't need you either. _

Riku heard the large wooden doors leading to the first district creak close and he knew they had left. As soon as the doors shut completely Riku roared and released the blazes that had manifested in his hands. Gloved hands chucked the dark fire into the wall across from him as he let out an unearthly bellow.

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After his dark outburst Riku had managed to somewhat calm himself down. His rage had awaked sleeping abilities wasn't even aware he had. Dull eyes stared blankly at his hands as he made his way up the inclined walkway that led back to the second district.

Riku was in such a daze that he barely heard the double doors leading to the second district opening. The silver-haired boy heard familiar voices coming from behind the opening doors.

_Fuck! They are back!_ He thought as he scurried back down the incline and hid behind the wall.

Gradually he began to peer around the stone corner. Sora and his lackeys were heading into the small house in front of him. Once they were inside Riku emerged from his hiding place and walked towards the window so he could see what Sora was up to.

Frosty eyes took in the scene before him. Sora was in a cozy room full of people Riku did not recognize. Riku's old friend began conversing with them. He sighed heavily as he watched the friendly scene unfold.

The sharp sound of heels spiking into concrete invaded his ears. Riku knew who it was. He did not have to address her. He did not want to acknowledge her or the fact that she had been right about Sora.

"You see. It is just as I told you. While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, he quite simply replaced you with some new companions," Maleficent said as she too watched Sora and his friends inside the warm house.

Riku did not respond to her. He just stood and stared into the window with deadpan eyes.

"Evidently he now values them far more than he does you." The crazed witch continued.

"You are better off without that wretched boy," Riku felt her lean closer to him as she proceeded to speak to him.

A blackened arm holding a menacing scepter wrapped around his shoulders.

"Now think no more of him and come with me," Maleficent tempted Riku as well as the darkness that sprouted within him. T

he horned mistress slowly began weaving the invisible puppet strings into his skin.

Riku could feel her tugging at the darkness within his heart, but he did not resist it and he did not stop staring lifelessly through the window.

"I'll help you find what you're searching for," she whispered tenderly into his ear.

It was a verbal contractual proposal, a bitter unspoken agreement, a cruel offer filled with implied deceitful requirements.

Riku's brow furrowed and his jaw clenched as the words and their hidden, insinuated meanings seeped into his conscious.

_Kairi…she knows about Kairi…__**my**__ Kairi. _

He didn't know what do say. What could he say? The enchantress always knew more than she should and he never quite knew how. He had never uttered a word of Kairi or his worry for her safety. Riku had not actually started worrying about her until Sora had mentioned her. For some reason he had just always assumed Sora would take care of her, and that Kairi would be with Sora. Now that he knew she wasn't his emotions were going crazy.

He was getting desperate. She could be anywhere. Heartless could have already found her. Riku was also sure Maleficent could smell his desperation. She would use it against him. Finding Kairi would likely come with a price. The witch had dirt on him now. The old hag had finally found his weakness…things would be different now. Now her help would come with a price. Maleficent had taken her hostage and now she would use it as Riku's own personal bait.

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Riku had not spoken a word since rejoining Maleficent. He wasn't sure if it was because he did not want to speak or simply because he had nothing to say. More than anything he was afraid of what _she_ would say.

The silver-haired boy stood stoically behind Maleficent's mystical table within the Castle Chapel, his feet planted firmly on the concrete floor and his arms crossed firmly over his hard chest. He was reluctantly awaiting negotiations.

"Tell me about her," the woman clad in black finally broke the silence as she stood behind her unusual crystal ball, her hands folded elegantly underneath her strong, pointed chin.

Riku did not want to tell this woman about Kairi, but he did not have many options anymore. He had to help Kairi and he was willing to do anything to accomplish that.

"Short red hair, deep blue eyes, tiny frame, and she is very friendly," Riku knew he was being vague, but he would only reveal what was necessary to find Kairi.

"Is she what you desire?" Maleficent asked as she began waving her hand over the luminous orb of her staff.

"Yeah." Riku said simply as his arms crossed even tighter as the tension in his muscles rose.

"I will assist you on one condition," the menacing witch offered.

"I'm listening," Riku answered as one of his silver brows ascended up his forehead.

"If you agree to help me, I shall help you. You cannot receive something of value for nothing, and you clearly value this girl," her statement almost sounded like a threat.

"Alright. I will help you if you will help me find Kairi," Riku finally agreed to the ominous woman's proposition.

.

.

.

The room was suffocating. Riku could not stop pacing back and forth between his bed and the desk that lay on the other side of the room. Everything around him was making him more and more deranged. The boy with silver hair was becoming unhinged.

He could feel Maleficent watching him and the longer he was with her in this castle the more enticed by her and her darkness he became. It was driving him mad. His heart was actually starting to ache for more darkness. The more she taught him the more he wanted.

It was a chaotic cycle. Riku would abstain from using his darkness, but when he was not using it he was thinking about it. Tempting thoughts would flood his brain to the brim until all he wanted to do was pull each of his hairs out of his scalp by the root. Then he would think that he could handle it and he would push his limits. The silver-haired young man would try to use the darkness in new and more advanced ways than he had in the past. Riku would indulge in his intense new power.

After the indulgence would come the guilt and the defeated thoughts. Then he would be consumed with self-loathing and he would seek atonement for what he had done. The cycle would come full circle after that and Riku would be back at abstaining. For Riku that was the worst part of his pattern. That was where he was tempted the most, where he could feel his sanity fading, and where he was the most susceptible.

Maybe it was because he had not truly indulged yet that the temptation was worse. Riku knew he was just barely scratching he surface. He knew he was capable of so much more and Maleficent could help him accomplish it.

Riku had not heard from Maleficent since their _negotiations. _She was keeping him in the dark. The menacing lady did not trust him enough to inform him of everything yet. That was fine with Riku because he did not trust her either.

What Riku was not ok with was staying in this room and waiting. He did not want to sleep and he had read so many of the books from his bookshelf he could not stand the thought of reading another one. All he could do was pace around and wrestle with his inconsistent thoughts.

Just as Riku was about to head towards the castle chapel to find Maleficent, she silently emerged in his doorway.

"We have a situation," she stated as she entered the boy's room.

Riku did not answer, but he listened.

"One that will provide you the opportunity to prove yourself, should you choose to accept it," the old witch explained as she began stroking the black bird roosting on her narrow shoulder.

_Like I have a choice. _

"Sure," he uttered emotionlessly as he scratched the back of his tanned neck.

"Listen well. We are collecting young women. Seven to be exact, as of now we possess five of the seven we need to reach our goal," she explained as she continued petting the fowl.

"The sixth girl has proved difficult to obtain. Your _dear _friend has arrived and has begun defeating the heartless we have sent to that world to acquire her. We need you to obtain her and bring her back here, preferably in one peace," she demanded firmly.

"Alright. Where is she?" he inquired as he started popping his knuckles.

"A world by the name of Agrabah,"she spoke elegantly.


	6. Crawling in the Dark

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy in any way shape or form. I own nothing!

**Chapter 6**

**Crawling in the Dark **

Riku could not believe it. He could not get over it. After everything he did, after everything he went through it still wasn't enough. He had found Kairi, but it was too late. Her heart was taken by the Heartless. Riku had failed despite everything.

He had went to Agrabah and taken the princess of heart like Maleficent had wanted.

'_Riku. Don't," _the little voice that had recently begun plaguing him had said.

Riku tried to steal that worthless puppet out from under Sora only to end up empty-handed. The only thing he got out of that trip was a lecture about having a conscious from Sora and the bitter reminder that Sora was being an arrogant bastard with a Keyblade.

'_Sora is right. You are on the wrong side," _the faint voice had agreed with Sora.

Then Riku had finally been reunited with Kairi, but the reunion was not a happy one. His beloved friend was unconscious and was not even aware that he was there or that he had been the one to retrieve her. It appeared as though she was sleeping, like she was in a deep, deep sleep. She did not move, she did not smile, and she did not laugh. The only thing she did was lie lifelessly on board the idiot pirate's ship.

That was when Maleficent finally informed him of her plan. She wanted the princesses of heart, the purest of heart, the purest of the pure. The horned mistress wanted to harness their power and use them to open some door, a door that led to untold wisdom. Riku did not care about wisdom, what he did care about was that this door could help him recover Kairi's heart. At least that was what Maleficent had told him.

Shortly after that he obtained another dark power. The vile witch had given him the ability to control the Heartless. Riku did not ask for the gift, but he had accepted it anyway. His body had glowed a vibrant green as the unnatural powers seeped into his flesh and possibly even his heart. It had been excruciating. His body had desperately resisted the foreign presence, but Riku still wanted it. He had wanted the power, he had wanted that control, and he had wanted that strength. Eventually, his being had succumbed and accepted the skills as his own. After that it was exhilarating. The silver-haired young man could not find the words to describe the divine rush he had received when he finally adapted to the empowerment.

Once he had obtained the power to control the heartless he even went after the useless girl called Wendy. He had captured her, but it was for nothing. They had made a mistake and Wendy was not one of the seven needed to open the door. So the time and effort put into capturing her was a complete waste.

Afterward, Sora and his minions had boarded the ship. It was an unwanted intrusion. One that Riku wanted to put an end to quickly. He did not want his spiky haired rival anywhere near Kairi. Not that Sora even cared. He was much more concerned about his new f_riends_ than he had been about Kairi.

It had infuriated him that Kairi preferred someone who didn't even care about her over him. Kairi deserved better. She did not need someone who was clearly not concerned about what had happened to her.

The young man with pale blue eyes had been livid, so he had made a new Sora. Riku had actually found his Heartless Sora to be a vast improvement over the original. Heartless Sora did not run around with royal morons while showing off his Keyblade. The silver-haired combatant was hoping that Heartless Sora could permanently replace the real Sora, but he seriously doubted it. The dummy and his companions had probably reduced Heartless Sora to a heap of darkness by now.

"It was reckless to bring her here without at least using a vessel," Maleficent scolded as Riku fought for his fleeting breath.

His entire torso was absolutely on fire. Everything was shifting and his vision was clouded. He had pushed himself too hard and now his tormented body was reaping the consequences of it.

He knew that it had been reckless. He was not stupid, but he had to get Kairi off of that ship. Riku knew that the Keyblade master would try to stop him and rescue Kairi if he stayed a moment longer.

"Remember, relying too heavily on dark powers could cost you your heart," the sinister mistress headed as the dense haze around him began to clear.

Riku knelt before Maleficent as the harsh, judgmental light that shone through the enormous stain glass window of the castle chapel surged over him. His arm rested on his knee as he glared at the bottom horned witch's ebony garment.

A feral roar erupted throughout the chapel and the anxious young man rose to his feet before he turned, facing the direction of the unusual noise.

"A castaway," the wicked woman replied arrogantly as she shrugged.

Riku smirked impishly.

"Though his world perished, his heart did not," Maleficent explained as she held a willowy hand over her heart in mock inspiration, "when we took the princess from his castle, he apparently followed her here through sheer force of will."

The young man with frosty eyes had to admit he was moderately impressed with the monsters ability to travel between words by using pure willpower.

"But fear not. No harm will come to you." The self-proclaimed monarch continued to ramble.

Riku wanted to laugh when she suggested that he was afraid. The gloomy fifteen-year-old had felt a lot of emotions throughout his time there, but fear was not something he has felt in a while. Now that he thought about it he had been feeling less and less the longer he was there.

"He is no match for your power," Maleficent baited him as she clenched her fist for emphasis.

The silver-haired fighter was intrigued.

"My power?" he asked as his brow furrowed and his eyes shone with curiosity.

"Yes, the untapped power that lies within you," the demonic lady implied as she watched him intently, "Now, child, it is time you awakened that power and realized your full potential."

Maleficent extended her wing like arms and her unholy scepter began to glow.

Instantly, Riku's aura began to shine a bright hue of green. He winced as he felt the enchantress' blackness tease his heart once more. Her ruby tipped fingernails tapped at his shadowed heart and began to pick at its tender tissue. The combatant surrendered to the sensation and allowed Maleficent to unlock his hidden abilities. His body did not fight her mysterious gifts as it once did. Riku's physical form no longer resisted and his heart almost welcomed the new grim manifestation that was spreading through him like a virus.

Ashen blue eyes lowered and watched his body radiate before the divine force permanently seeped into his essence.

"Now you are ready to take back what is rightfully yours," the horned enchantress declared proudly as she gracefully lowered her arms.

A silver brow rose.

"What is rightfully mine?" the skeptical boy questioned.

"Why yes child, don't you know? You are the rightful wielder of the Keyblade," Maleficent stated as she grasped her scepter with both of her claw like appendages.

Riku reeled backward.

The Keyblade? He thought Soul Eater was his true weapon. The blue-eyed young man found Maleficent's accusation a bit hard to believe. Soul Eater just felt…right.

"Do not believe me? Test the theory yourself. The king's fools will be here soon will they not?" the otherworldly woman tempted him.

"Yeah. Sora will be here soon. He will come for Kairi," Riku confessed as his fists clenched at his sides.

_And I will be ready for him, _he smirked inwardly.

"Then take the opportunity to take the Keyblade from him. If you are the true wielder of the Keyblade it will come to you when you call for it," Maleficent explained.

Riku said nothing else to Maleficent. He needed to check on Kairi before he went after the creature that invaded their world in search of the princess that had been taken from him. And before he dealt with Sora and the supposed retrieval of his Keyblade.

The dark soldier marched to the grand hall where all the princesses were being held. Shortly after returning from Neverland he had placed Kairi in a circular enclosure made of darkness. Riku did not trust the Heartless that scampered around the castle like ravenous savages. More than anything he did not want Sora busting in and taking her. He wanted to make damn sure she was secure before he left.

As expected, an unconscious Kairi was still sheltered within his self-made enclosure.

"Before you go after the beast and your Keyblade, I have another task for you," Maleficent's velvety voice rang inside of his highly responsive ears.

"What is it?" he asked as he inspected he enclosure once more. Honestly, by now Riku was more concerned about Sora finding her than her actual wellbeing.

The young man was no longer aware of how much his darkness had affected him and this thought process. He was oblivious of his new, contaminated judgment and understanding.

"It appears that I have made a mistake with one of the girls suspected of being a princess of heart," Maleficent clarified as she approached him, "she has become corrupt despite being held within a capsule."

Riku listened to her but he did not regard her, instead he stared blankly at one of the flaming blue cauldrons that lined the massive hall.

"I am not sure what went wrong. I have never seen anything like it," the witch murmured to herself as she placed her hand on her angular chin, "how it happened is not important. What is important is that she is worthless now and she is to be disposed of."

The silver-haired male nodded.

"Which one?" he asked as his cold eyes darted across the room.

Maleficent elegantly raised her hand and pointed to the lifeless heap a Defender Heartless had thrown at the bottom of the rounded, vermillion steps.

Riku sighed slowly as he made his way across the hall and loomed over the tainted girl. His head tilted as he gazed down at the suddenly harrowingly familiar girl.

The girl's back was facing him, but he already knew her identity. It was Cassandra.

Riku scowled as he glared at her back.

Carelessly, Riku placed his foot on her shoulder as he angled her body toward him. His suspicions were again confirmed as he witnessed her desolate face. Rage consumed him as he realized that she had gotten her heart taken as well. How could she be so reckless? How dare she do something that fucking stupid!

The longer he glowered at her the more he realized something else was wrong with her. She looked different from Kairi. Riku knelt down beside her and roughly shifted her body so that she was completely facing him.

Cassandra's eyes were tightly closed and her porcelain skin was deadly white. The boy with icy blue eyes quickly retracted his hand when he felt the bone-chilling cold that radiated off her deathly pale skin. He softly gasped as he felt the raw grip of death ooze into his glove and onto his unsuspecting skin. For a moment his hand glowed the same unusual shade of green it had earlier when Maleficent had given him his new abilities.

_What the…!_

The blonde girl's condition was clearly different from Kairi's. Kairi merely appeared as if she was sleeping. Her skin still held its natural coloring and she was still warm to the touch while Cassandra's skin was bleached into an unearthly white and her temperature was that of a corpse.

"What is wrong with her?" the young man asked the morbid woman as he stared at the inanimate girl before him.

"A friend of yours?" Maleficent inquired venomously as she watched her companion kneel beside the unconscious maiden.

_Not really, _he thought dismissively.

"What is wrong with her?" he repeated in a harsher tone as he rested his forearm on his knee. Riku was not going to answer her question.

"She has lost her soul as well as her heart. That is why her state is different from that of the other princesses of heart," the vile lady announced as she turned her nose up at the spoiled young woman.

Riku was not aware that something like that was even possible. Leave it to Cassandra to find a new way to get into trouble. He was glad she had lost her heart _and_ her spirit. She deserved it and he hoped that it was absolute agony.

"That is another reason I want her to be disposed of. Unlike Kairi, there is no hope for this one," Maleficent condemned as she pointed the tip of her staff at Cassandra's head, "a heart can be recovered, but a soul is another matter completely. She will never wake from this kind of slumber."

"Even if her heart was recovered, her body cannot survive without a soul or spirit, whatever you wish to call it. She will die without it. Her body will fade away with or without her heart," the witch continued, "either way it is only a matter of time before she ceases to exist."

It was a lot for him to take in. Cassandra had always seemed so…invincible. She was always so fiery and spirited. Riku could not imagine her succumbing to something like this, but she had and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Dispose of her," Maleficent repeated although she had a hunch Riku was acquainted with the girl who lied lifelessly at his feet.

It was none of her concern. She hated the idiotic girl who had turned out to be a failure and she wanted her forever removed from her sight.

The silver-haired male nodded and lifted Cassandra into his arms and winced when her bitter, deadly skin came into contact with his. She had always been so warm, too warm. He had always hated how toasty she always was, but now he wished that she _was_ warm. Anything would be better than the tart temperature her body exuded now.

He threw the girl's husk over his shoulder and made his way out of the castle to get rid of her. Riku assumed the best place to dump her would be at one of the lift stops that led to the rising falls.

When he exited the castle and reached the outer area before the lift stop that would take guests to the rising falls, he slung Cassandra off his now frigid shoulder.

"Damn it Cassandra you are going to give me frostbite!" he cursed her as he grabbed her wrist and began dragging her empty shell behind him, not caring if the rought concrete abused her skin and body. Riku was sure her skin was getting scrapped and cut along the surface, but it did not matter to him.

_It's not like she can feel it anyway. _

The darkened young man hauled the blonde hull to the edge of the walkway and slung her limb body out in front of him. Riku knelt down and grabbed his old friend by her fragile throat. He firmly gripped her neck and held her out over the ledge.

Below lied countless amounts of deadly, jagged rocks and a swirling fog that inhibited anyone from giving the endless cavern appropriate depth. The fall would kill her. She would plummet to the bottom and if the fall did not kill her one of the spiked stones would.

"_I'm sorry,"_ the little voice inside his head apologized to him.

All he had to do was let go. It would be easy. He just had to remove his fingers from her neck and let her plunge to her death. Then he would be done with her forever. It should be easy, right?

_Ok Riku. Just let her go, _he mentally commanded himself.

Cassandra's faint pulse throbbed against his fingertips. It was feeble and inconsistent but it was still there.

_It does not matter. She is as good as dead anyway. She is dying, Maleficent said so. There is no hope for her. You are putting her out of her misery. She deserves it for getting herself in this mess in the first place. It is her own fault, _Riku reassured himself privately.

Her head lobbed over and her shoulder length hair cascaded around her. The golden locks fell over her face and tickled at Riku's exposed lower palm and wrist. It was soft and felt like silk was being rubbed against his coarse skin.

The appalling wind that flowed around this barren world encircled her and suddenly the smell of vanilla overcame his senses. It was _her_ aroma. It was Cassandra's natural fragrance.

_I-I can't do it…_

Riku's hardened almost permanent scowl fell as he quickly brought Cassandra back to the safety of the ledge. Her flaccid arms draped over his shoulders as he securely wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back onto study ground. Guilt violently consumed him and he tumbled to the ground with his blonde friend in his arms.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he apologized as he indifferently held her slackened body in his lap.

He had almost killed her. It was torture to think about how close he came to actually dropping her.

She did not answer. She did not respond to his apologies. She did not even move. Cassandra's wobbly head simply rested on his shoulder as Riku lightly enveloped her and continued to ask for forgiveness. The silver-haired young man had never been one for physical contact, but he was so overcome by sweeping amounts of guilt he did not care.

Sobriety hit him hard for the first time in ages. Something other than lust for power and darkness flowed through his veins and it hurt.

He had to hide Cassandra. The silver-haired fighter couldn't take her back to the castle; if Maleficent found her she would make sure that she would be disposed of permanently. Riku would have to do a lot of lying but he could not let his friend get murdered by the horrid woman. He did not care if she was dying anyway…he was indebted to her now for even considering killing her himself. He owed her that much. Riku would look after her until she…until she perished.

By the time the boy with pale blue eyes returned to his room, his uncharacteristic remorse had faded and his misplaced anger had returned. He was furious with her again. Riku huffed roughly and tossed the broken young woman onto the bed.

Cassandra's body flopped and tossed in disturbing ways before settling onto the tawny bedspread. Riku's stomach rolled when he saw the way her body moved.

"For the love of darkness Cassandra! Why did you have to go and get yourself in trouble too? Maybe I_ should_ have thrown you down into that trench. I wouldn't have to hide you if I did," the confused young man contradicted himself.

He was bewildered. One moment he hated her and wanted her gone, the next he felt bad for her and he wanted to help her. Riku could not figure out how he actually felt.

"I said I was sorry," a feminine voice resonated within the room. The voice sounded a lot like the one he had been hearing in his head lately.

The silver-haired young man tensed and he turned to face the voice.

Cassandra was sitting at his desk _and _she was lying lifelessly on his bed. Icy eyes dart back and forth between the almost identical girls. Riku blinked rapidly and rubbed his hallucinating eyes, but the apparition did not vanish.

"You're not real," the combatant with pale blue eyes argued.

But she certainly looked real. She looked just like she did the last time he had seen her. Her eyes glowed the same abnormal shade of turquoise, her blonde hair with slight waves fell just below her shoulders, and her porcelain, translucent skin clung to her small frame. Her black tank top and red and black plaid skirt were still in tact. Cassandra's garments were not slightly shredded and covered in sporadic holes like the girl on the bed. It was what she was supposed to look like. Cassandra was not supposed to be that pale, cold carcass lying on his bed.

"Hmm apparently not," the hallucination stated as she crossed her smooth, ivory legs, "you definitely act like you don't hear me."

Riku knew exactly what she was talking about…but he wasn't about to admit it.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he disagreed as he closed his eyes and grabbed fistfuls of his silver hair.

"Yes you do. You are ignoring me now just like you ignored me when you went to Agrabah," the blonde illusion scolded as she grabbed the back of the chair she sat in and faced him.

"I am not listening!" Riku cried and faced away from her as he tried to ignore her

"When you took that poor girl. When you tormented Sora inside that whale. When you took Kairi away from him on that pirate ship," the apparition continued as she counted the times she had tried to reach out to him on her fingers.

"Enough!" he roared as he forcefully released his hair and glared at her.

The dark boy knew what he had done. He did not need some demented illusion to remind him of his immoral acts. It amazed him that even the apparition of Cassandra chastised him.

The hallucination said nothing. She merely gazed at him with hurt, concerned eyes as he kept glaring at her, but when Riku finally blinked she was gone. The chair she sat in was now empty and the only blonde girl in the room was the one that lied desolately on his bed.

The silver-haired fighter needed to get out of this room. He needed to get away from her. She was driving him mad. Besides, he had guests to deal with.

.

.

.

"No vessel. No help from the Heartless… So tell me, how'd you get here?" Riku questioned as he stood at the apex of the rising falls before the intrusive monster.

The broody young man genuinely wanted to know. He found such an amazing feat impossible and he was curious as to see how the beast would explain itself.

"I simply believed. Nothing more to it," the feral brute responded as he placed his claws over his chest, "When our world fell into darkness, Belle was taken from me. I vowed I would find her again no matter what the cost."

The savage's clichéd words seemed almost familiar although Riku could not place where he had heard them before. Had he thought such things about Kairi? Probably, but it was hard for him to remember. Everything was blending together into a blackened blur inside the turmoil that raged within him.

"I believed I would find her. So, here I am. She must be here. I will have her back!" the impatient monster roared.

That sounded a lot like a challenge to the silver-haired male and the left side of his mouth turned up. His entire body tingled with anticipation as the possibility of a confrontation emerged.

"Take her if you can," Riku countered arrogantly.

'_Don't__' _the small voice begged.

He was not about to let the beast take one of the princesses he needed to recover Kairi's heart. Plus the young man with light blue eyes was just itching for a fight.

The monster released a ferocious roar before launching himself at Riku. Pale blue orbs widened as he quickly summoned Soul Eater to his empty awaiting palm. The gloomy fighter back flipped effortlessly to avoid the deadly claws of the fiend before he quickly counter attached with Soul Eater.

The blade's jagged, vicious edged ripped and tore at the brute's fury hide as Riku slashed the weapon across his abdomen. The cut was deep and ruthless. As Soul Eater tore through the tender muscle and tissue that made up the monster's stomach, the silver-haired boy felt blood running onto his hands and felt the shutter of the blade cutting through mutilated flesh.

It was over. The intruder groaned and fell to the decaying grayish cobblestone.

"Stop!" an annoyingly familiar male voice cried.

_Of course! Of course he comes to the rescue! _Riku mused bitterly.

"So you finally made it. About time. I've been waiting for you," the minion of darkness subtly teased as he watched Sora and his comrades with eyes filled with envy and contempt.

The older boy was not surprised that Sora was late. The fool was not nearly as punctual as he was, he never had been. Riku had been waiting at the falls for much too long. His patience had been running thin, but then the beast showed up first and he had something to do while he waited. Leave it to Sora to only show up when someone was in trouble. If Riku had known violence would lure him in he would have attacked something a long time ago, that way he wouldn't have had to wait so long.

"We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you," the silver-haired young man began thinking aloud as he pointed to himself and then at the brown-haired boy for emphasis.

'_Leave Sora alone, Riku,' _the feminine voice tried again to stop him.

"Riku…" Sora said softly as he took a step forward, his face full of confusion and hurt.

Riku was no longer in the mood to play around; he was ready to cut to the chase. He was ready to break the brutal truth to Sora.

"But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters," Riku said calmly.

"What are you talking about?" the young brunette asked as he intently watched his friend with eyes full of uncertainty.

His face was priceless. Riku was enjoying Sora's torment way too much.

'_Please don't' _she pleaded.

"Let the Keyblade choose…its true master," the pale blue-eyed young man held his hand out and commanded that _his _weapon come to him.

The unusual weapon began to stagger in Sora's hands. The Keyblade rose into the air and began to levitate toward Riku as Sora desperately tried to hold onto his retreating blade. Finally, the Keyblade grew tired of Sora's persistent tugging and vanished. The weapon slipped right through his fingers, leaving only remnants of white and golden light behind.

Riku's eyes widened. He was not sure it would actually work, but damn was he glad that it did.

"What!" The king's lackeys called in total shock.

Within seconds the silver key with a golden hilt was in his blackened grip.

"Maleficent was right," the light-haired combatant announced in awe as he inspected his new weapon.

"You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the keyblade master can open the secret door…and change the world," he continued as he held his prize in the air.

"But that's impossible. How did this happen?" Sora was becoming unhinged, "_I'm _the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

The corrupted young man absolutely_ loved_ this. Sora needed a wake up call and he was so glad he was able to watch his fall from grace.

"You were just the delivery boy," Riku scoffed condescendingly.

The new wielder of the Keyblade summoned his old wooden sword from the islands after putting away his new weapon.

"Sorry, your part's over now," the older boy continued to patronize his defeated friend, "Here, go play hero with this."

Riku chucked the toy sword at Sora's feet before he headed for the castle. He was finished there. He had gotten what he wanted and he had no reason to stick around and watch Sora's pity party.

Arrogant feet carried the blackened Keyblade master back to entrance hall of the gloomy castle.

"Happy now?" a little girl asked as he opened the dual doors and entered the somber foyer.

Surprised, Riku jolted and saw the mysterious girl from Miranda sitting on the monstrous head that drooled water into the pool at the center of the room.

The blonde child was in a small green tank top and jean shorts that fell to her knees, confidently sat atop the demonic head made of stone with her feet dangling on each side of its muzzle. The sound of slowly trickling water abused Riku's hypersensitive hearing as he watched the child in disbelief.

"Yeah. I am happy now," he instantly argued despite his inner doubt.

His eyes squinted at he looked up at the emerald eyed little girl. Her hair was shorter and had more curl to it and she was a lot younger, but she looked just like Cassandra. No…she _was_ Cassandra. The girl from Miranda was not real and she was not simply related to Cassandra as Riku had once assumed...it was Cassandra. She was a haunting that had taken on child form.

_Why is this happening to me? Why is she bothering me? Am I that far gone? _

It was too much for him to process or to think about so once again he chose not to. Avoidance. Avoidance would be his salvation.

"Ok! If your happy I'm happy," the female child with golden locks replied casually as she shrugged her teeny shoulders causing her vibrant curls to jiggle and bob playfully.

She smiled brilliantly at him and Riku felt like he might get sick.

"Wait up!" someone called out.

"What now!" Riku snapped. He was getting tired of all the fucking illusions.

"Uh, Riku?" it was the idiotic knight that traveled with Sora.

"We were wonderin' if we could come with ya," the clumsy knight continued.

The silver-haired Keyblade master crossed his arms and glared at the duo skeptically.

"It is our mission. Our king told us to follow the key and…" the tiny magician at the knight's side explained.

"Fine. Just stay out of my way," the young man interrupted and somewhat complied.

Truthfully, he did not care if they followed him around as long as they did not inhibit him. Plus it would be a great way to fuck with Sora.

"They are his friends you know," the little girl who was still seated on the fountain said as she continued kicking her feet.

"That is part of the fun," he answered without thinking. Riku could not imagine how utterly ridiculous he probably looked at that moment.

The servant of darkness knew he was the only one that could see the golden-haired pest but somehow it didn't keep him from talking to her.

"When did you start hating Sora so much?" she asked as she placed her teeny, ivory hands on the structure's nose and leaned forward.

It was a legitimate question, one that Riku was choosing to ignore.

"Sora will come after us. We will wait for him here," he told the king's underlings.

"Why?" the fowl inquired.

"Because Riku wants to prove that he can beat Sora with his own weapon. He is looking for a fight," the youthful girl with turquoise eyes replied for him although Riku was the only one that heard her. She rested her elbow's on the idol's snout and placed her puny hands under her chin.

"Because I said so," Riku said a bit too harshly as he tried to drown out the hallucination's words.

The child version of Cassandra giggled into her delicate hands. Riku didn't see what was so funny so he kept trying to disregard her. She would go away as she had countless times before. The visions had to cease eventually.

Riku was mistaken. _Goldie Locks _did not go away. She retained her position on the fountain while she kicked her legs back and forth while Riku and the king's servants waited for Sora's arrival.

"Hmm. This isn't right. You are supposed to pick fights with someone you can't beat," the brat finally spoke again and placed her hand on her chin in mock contemplation.

"Shut up," Riku hissed as he closed his eyes and sat on the fountains edge. He thought by sitting under the fountain he could avoid looking at her and maybe she would disperse back into the unholy universe from which she emerged.

"Sora is stronger than you. You underestimate him," the blonde kid persisted.

"Shut up! I'm warning you!" he yelled as he stood and scowled at the cherub like girl.

"He has been to many worlds and he has gained immense strength from his travels. And when I say strength I am not referring to the physical corruption you call strength," the youthful Cassandra heeded. Although she was a just child, her words sounded a lot like something the older girl would say.

"I liked you a lot better when you were just a faint voice in my head. Hell I may even like the older, regular version of you better!" Riku countered fiercely.

He realized he was talking to an apparition out loud but he didn't really care what the court jesters thought of him. Riku wasn't even really sure why they wanted to join him. All they had said was that their king wanted them to follow they key, and since he held they key they were going to follow him. It was vague and stupid but it was enough for him. Riku wouldn't turn away the extra help or the opportunity to toy with Sora. To the new Keyblade wielder the kings men were just something else he could take from his rival, at that point the details did not matter.

"You don't really like _either_ of us," the little girl chuckled.

Riku was about to agree with her but he sensed them. Sora and the monster were coming and he needed to prepare himself. The dark Keyblade master stood in front of the fountain and closed his eyes as he channeled his darkness. All the annoyance and vexation had his darkness on the brink of boiling over and he needed to get a hold of himself before he got into a fight.

The doors to the entrance hall opened as Sora and his new companion emerged in the large foyer.

After mini Cassandra's warnings Riku's confidence was shaken. He was pretty sure he and the buffoons could take Sora, but he wasn't sure he could take Sora and the monster simultaneously. So Riku removed him from the equation, all it took was a manifestation of darkness mimicking the form of the princess he wanted. It was a bit below the belt and simple but the idiot was just dumb enough to fall for it.

"Quit while you can," Riku warned Sora after luring the beast back into the empty corridor.

"No. Not without Kairi," Sora challenged firmly.

"The darkness will destroy you," the darkened young man heeded as his appearance changed.

His grip was slipping and he could not hold himself back anymore. Darkness surrounded him and his body became adorned in sheer black and blue armor. Bloodied material covered his wrists while a Heartless symbol without the typical X was stamped upon his polluted chest.

"Your wrong, Riku. The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends it will never die!" Sora confidently challenged.

Riku begged to differ. He was quite sure he could do _a lot_ more than simply _touch _his precious _heart. _

'_Riku! Don't you dare!'_ the lawful voice tried to appeal to him.

"Really…well we'll just see about that!" Riku roared as summoned the biggest ball of dark fire he could and hurled it at Sora's innocent chest.

The spirited brunette flinched but he did not move. The deadly orb was closing in on him much too quickly.

"Sora ain't gonna go anywhere!" the moronic knight announced as he deflected the blast.

_Fuck! _Riku mentally cursed.

"You'd betray your king?" the current Keyblade master disputed. It was not much but it was all he knew about the…dopes.

"Not on your life! But I'm not gonna betray Sora, either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together," the blockhead explained as he glanced back at Sora compassionately.

Riku rolled his pale eyes and placed a heavy hand on his hip. _I think I am going be sick. _

"See ya later, Donald. Can you tell the king I'm really sorry?" the defender of Sora pleaded as he waved goodbye.

"Hold on Goofy! We'll tell him together," the shorter, feather imbecile cried as he too ran to Sora's side.

_Okay now I really** am** going to be sick. _

The silver-haired young man stopped listening after that. They were conversing amongst each other but he was not paying any attention. All he could do was try to swallow the bile that threatened to erupt from his throat.

_Ugh I can't stand this shit anymore. _

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku interrupted the supposedly touching scene. He just wanted to fight; he couldn't care less about these _heartwarming _sentiments.

"I know now I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart," the younger of the two boys proclaimed confidently.

That absurd statement almost made Riku laugh. Almost.

"Your heart?" he scoffed as his baby blue eyes rolled once again, "What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

Sora continued to give some bullshit speech about his friends and how strong his heart was or something like that. Riku couldn't listen because he couldn't get past the bullshit about his heart being a weapon to listen to the shit that was falling out of his mouth now.

"I don't need a weapon," he heard Sora state as he took his fighting stance, "My friends are my power!"

The words Sora uttered did not get Riku's attention, but the Keyblade leaving his hands and returning to Sora certainly did.

"Huh! Wha-" Riku stuttered uncontrollably as he watched _his _Keyblade leave his morbid hands.

_That does it…,_ he thought before ferociously lunging at his rival. Riku was seeing red.

.

.

.

The entire struggle was a complete and utter blur. Riku had been so enraged he was hardly aware of his movements or actions. He felt the pain the Keyblade inflicted upon him, he felt the blows that he landed on the trio that attacked him but it was as if he was unconscious throughout the fight.

Riku had been blinded by fury, but it did not matter. He had lost. Now that it was over all that remained was embarrassment and failure.

The silver-haired minion of darkness rose to his uncoordinated feet and ran as fast as he could out of the entrance hall. He could not get away from that Sora quick enough.

His lungs burned and his entire body ached as he sprinted to the castle chapel. She was right. She had been right about Sora. She was always right. She had always been right. No matter much he denied it and ignored her she was always right.

Everything was on fire and his lungs were being stabbed by invisible needles. He could not run anymore. Riku bent over to catch his breath. His gloved fingers dug into his tingling, cramping legs as he mentally ripped himself apart for letting Sora win, for losing the Keyblade, for letting his anger get the better of him, for letting his darkness get the better of him…

"Are you going to stop this foolishness now?" Cassandra asked as she manifested before him.

She did not take the form of a child this time. The Cassandra before him now was the fifteen-year-old girl.

"You're not real," he repeated in between fleeting breaths.

Riku did not peer up at her again. It made him uncomfortable. She was a bitter reminder of his failure and the fact that he was fucking crazy.

"I'm real to you," she whispered gently. The defeated young man could feel her eyes on him and it was too much.

"You think you can just show up whenever you want and tell me how to live my life?" Riku snapped harshly as he stood erect and rushed at the hallucination.

He was so sick of her. He was disgusted with her righteousness and her kindness and her stupid light!

"Where were you when I needed you!" Riku shouted without thinking as they stood mere inches apart.

Icy blue eyes widened. He had no idea where that came from and he instantly wished he could take it back. Riku didn't need anyone…and he definitely didn't need her…

The feminine mirage looked real. Too real. If Riku didn't know any better he would think she was real. He could see the vivid, porcelain texture of her skin and the distinct color of her eyes that held no hint of hazel or brown...only vast oceans of shimmering green and blue. Riku could even see the artery in her neck pumping blood into her illusionary body.

"I never left you. I never turned my back on you, Riku. You turned your back on me. You turned your back on all of us," the apparition pointed out before she dispersed and was carried away with the wind.

With a still heaving chest, Riku continued to run for the safety chapel as if nothing had happened. His chaotic mind was racing faster than he could even process. Everything was absolute mayhem, but the one thing he could focus on was what had just happened to him in the entrance hall so he concentrated on that.

How did he lose? He was not supposed to lose. Sora was a weakling; he was not the real Keyblade master! He was!

"Why?" he cried breathlessly as he finally reached the castle chapel where Maleficent usually resided, "It was mine."

Riku did not know whom he was talking to. Maybe he was talking to himself. Maybe he was crying out to Cassandra's spirit. Maybe he was calling for Maleficent. However, none of them answered him, but someone else did.

"Know this. The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade," a mysterious man in a hood whose aura glowed an eerie blue replied. The man stood in front of the doorway Riku just barreled through.

The combatant did not know who this guy was or where he even came from but he did know that he had already insulted him.

"What? You're saying my heart is weaker than his?" Riku snapped as he threw his arm to his side in frustration.

"For that instant, it was," the ghostly being replied.

The boy with silver hair shook his head back and forth in disbelief. He could not believe this. Honestly, he could not believe any of it. Riku couldn't really believe anything anymore. The downward spiral had been so swift and so unexpected he didn't have time to adjust to any of it. Everything was happening much too quickly.

His head lowered in total defeat. He felt as though he had hit rock bottom. Riku had taken so much only to have it all yanked away from him. Kairi was heartless, Cassandra was virtually dead, he had betrayed Sora on ten different levels, he had lost his title of Keyblade master, and his childhood home was gone. The only thing had been able to hold onto was his darkness and his dark powers but it had cost him his sanity and proper judgment.

_Maybe…maybe I was wrong…maybe...maybe Sora and Cassandra were right..._

"However, you can become stronger. You showed no fear when stepping through the door to darkness," the macabre individual almost commended him, "It held no terror for you."

"Riku. Don't listen to him," Cassandra heeded.

Riku could hear her and he knew she had manifested behind him but he didn't look at her. It…it kind of hurt to…

"Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow even stronger," the sinister life form tempted.

"What should I do?" Riku asked as he shook his head and closed his frosty eyes. He was not sure whom he was asking for advice. It could have been anyone. The young man did not care as long as he got some form of answer. He felt totally lost at that moment. He felt vulnerable.

"Riku I have been able to shield you from a lot lately, but I can't save you from this…" the blonde apparition warned or maybe she was pleading.

The defeated former Keyblade wielder found that hard to believe. She had not shielded him or saved him from anything. Whatever it was haunting him was not real. The reality of it was that Cassandra was wasting away on his bed, she was not here warning him about something she obviously knew nothing about.

"It's really quite simple. Open yourself to the darkness. That is all," the hooded man stated plainly, "let your heart, your being, become darkness itself.

Riku's aura began to give forth the same bright green glow before his entire world went black.

**_A/N: Thanks for reading! I apologize for the very delayed update but I have been struggling with this story and especially this chapter. It was hard for me to decide on which direction I wanted to take. I am aware that I skipped forward a good bit and that was part of my struggle with this chapter. It was hard for me to decide if I wanted to write out each of the events individually from Riku's perspective or if I wanted to skip ahead to more important events that we know less about from Riku's point of view. Obviously I chose to skip ahead. I chose to skip ahead because I felt that the events that transpired between Riku completely joining Maleficent and when Sora comes to Hollow Bastion kind of spoke for themselves and there was not much that I could add to them. I would basically be rewriting the game throughout most of it and I am trying to avoid that as much as possible. I am trying to give a new take on things. Anyway, I digress. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! _**


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